There's no Place Like Home
by QueensOfWeirdness
Summary: A spin-off story from PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid's Treasure Planet saga. Read her saga first. Upon returning home from their Honeymoon, Raphaelle and Jim find an 18 year old girl waiting for them. An adventure awaits the newlyweds as they must help the girl return home.
1. Prologue

There's no Place like Home

Prologue

Raphaelle Hawkins stood in front of a full-length mirror, studying her dress as she smoothed out the skirt with her hands. Green and strapless; it was beautiful! The top around her bust sparkled with different sized and colored gems, the middle was solid green (which laced up in the back), and the skirt of the dress puffed out slightly. Its fabric was green with hints of pinkish-purple.

Her long strawberry blonde hair was curled into ringlets and pinned up in a high ponytail behind her head. Her silver locket was fastened around her neck, her diamond wedding ring sat on her left hand, and diamond earrings hung from her ears.

"Ready, Mrs. Hawkins?" Raphaelle jumped slightly and spun around. Her husband was leaning against the closed door of their hotel room, watching her and smirking. He wore the suit he had worn for their wedding two weeks prior. The only differences were his hair – which had begun to grow out – and his earring – which was once again hooked in his ear.

"Yes." she paused, "I think …" she faced the mirror again, turning her head side to side, checking her hair. "Is my hair fine?" she leaned in closer, "My makeup? I'm assuming the dress is fine since you bought it for me but-"

"Trust me," Jim crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her waist, "you look perfect." He kissed her temple before letting her go.

"You know, I wouldn't freak out so much if you'd just tell me where we're going tonight." She'd been trying to figure out where they were going all week. She still had no idea. Her only hint was the fancy clothes. Now, like all the other times she'd asked, Jim simply smiled at his wife and kept silent. He took her hand and lead her out the door, down to the lobby and out onto the streets.

"We're walking?" Raphaelle asked; Jim nodded in return. _I am so glad I decided to wear comfortable shoes!_ She thought. At least they didn't have to walk very far.

Three blocks later, the couple arrived at another hotel which towered high into the sky. The outside of the stone building was plain – no decorations signaled what was happening inside except for the two bellhops standing on either side of a red velvet rope which fenced off the front door. The employees let select groups inside; only those with an invitation got inside. Those who did get inside were dressed up in dresses and suits like the Hawkins'.

Jim held Raphaelle's arm and whisked her to the front door; he flashed a smile and an invite to the left bellhop while he supplied their names. The old man (old enough to be their grandfather) gave them a toothy smile, showing his missing teeth, and ushered the couple inside.

Once inside, they weaved their way to the back of the hotel. After the lobby, the electric lights were turned off and replaced by candles and torches. _Talk about medieval, _Raphaelle thought. (She wasn't ever sure if this world knew what medieval was.) Once in the back, she froze for a beat and stared; huge ten foot tall double doors detailed in gold paint loomed in front of them. Two different bellhops opened the doors and Jim led her inside.

Once inside, Raphaelle stopped, her eyes growing wide, "Jim…" she whispered, her breath was taken away, "we're…we're at a ball?!" she couldn't believe her eyes.

The long room was flanked by four floor-to-ceiling windows on each side. Straight ahead from the door in place of a wall was a floor-to-ceiling-wall-to-wall window, with two French doors placed symmetrically in it. Outside the night was clear, the stars shone bright; the courtyard was green and trimmed to perfection. Inside, the room looked gold in the dim candle light that flickered off the walls. Velvet drapes hung, parted on the sides of the wall windows. Between the windows, tables were placed for sitting; to the couple's left was a small bar for refreshments, and on their right a small orchestra played. Couples twirled around and around on the dance floor to a slow waltz.

"Yeah," Jim breathed, "it is. I figured we should do something extravagant before we head home tomorrow night." All Raphaelle could do was nod in agreement, she did not even want to think about how much this was costing him. "Shall we dance m'lady?" he offered her a hand.

"Let's," she took his hand in hers and soon found herself twirling on the beautiful dance floor in Jim's arms.

After three hours of dancing, two glasses of punch, and one long walk outside in the cool night air of the courtyard, Raphaelle could barely walk back to the hotel. It was a good excuse to lean on Jim the whole walk back.

"How did you like your surprise tonight, Raphaelle?" Jim asked her an hour later as they crawled into bed.

"I absolutely loved it!" she grinned, giving him a kiss on the lips.

"Glad to hear." He whispered against her lips, smiling before kissing her back.

The next day, the newlyweds awoke slowly. After dressing for the day and eating breakfast, they began packing for their trip home. Their honeymoon was over, but this meant they could go home and help Sara run the BenBow Inn for a short time. Once their house was ready and Jim secured a ship to captain – with the help of Amelia that wouldn't be hard – Sara would have to find new help.

"Ready to go?" Jim asked once they were all packed.

"Yeah." she smiled and grabbed his hand, "Let's go home!"

The newlywed couple headed down to the ship which would bring them back to Montressor. They were unaware of what awaited them at home. Or rather, they were unaware of _who_ awaited them at home.

* * *

It was early in the morning when I woke up and groggily pulled the dress Mrs. Hawkins had given me over my head. It was fairly simple; dark blue with a white apron in front. I didn't have to wear the apron all the time, but I liked the way it looked, so I kept it on. The dress fit me well since I was only an inch shorter than her.

I ran my fingers through my short blonde hair. That was the nice thing about short hair, I rarely needed a brush. The down side to my hair was how it flipped and puffed out randomly, as if it had a mind of its own. I sighed. It wasn't like I could do much about it, and the guests did think it looked cute. Once I was sure I looked semi presentable, I hurried downstairs to help Mrs. Hawkins with the breakfast rush. It wasn't so much of a rush as it was half asleep guests chowing through … I don't know what. I had no money, so in exchange for a room and meals I worked alongside Sara, BEN, and her other employees. I was hoping to rack up enough chores so I'd be able to sleep in one of these mornings.

I found my new "boss" in the kitchen; whisk in one hand, bowl in the other, humming a marry tune. A pink blob floated about her head; suddenly he turned into a whisk and bowl, mixing up batter in the air. I had been informed that he was named Morph and that he belonged to Sara's son, Jim.

"You're in a good mood today, ma'am!"

"Oh, for heavenly sake, dear! I told you to call me Sara!" she gave me a cheerful smile and continued humming.

I chuckled, "So why are you so happy this morning?" I asked as I grabbed a stack of plates and a handful of forks.

"They're coming back today! You know this!" Joy was radiating off of her; so much so I was afraid I would choke. And I'm a happy-go-lucky person by nature!

"Ha!" I chuckled and shook my head, "I'm an idiot!" I mumbled under my breath. Of course I knew her son and his new wife were coming home today! My brain just refuses to function at a quarter to seven on a Saturday morning. "Sorry, Sara … I'm just a basket case most days…"

"Most?" she winked at me.

"Oh you know what I mean!"

"You set yourself up for that one!" We laughed and continued working.

Through the rest of morning and the lunch rush, Mrs. Hawkins acted the same. So was so overly happy that nothing could dampen her spirits. Not even when a little frog-looking child puked all over the floor. Sara smiled and continued to hum as she mopped up the stomach contents; the rest of us had to suspense our urges to gag and lose the contents of our own stomachs!

Finally, three o'clock rolled around. Jim and his new wife were due home within the half hour. It was strange; the Inn had been so busy since I'd arrived that I didn't even know his wife's name. All I'd been able to get out of anyone was that Sara's son Jim had been married at the Inn two weeks ago and was on his honeymoon. After that, we would always get interrupted by something or someone.

BEN was the only one who gave me more information, but he spoke so quickly I couldn't understand a word he said. All I managed to catch was 'Jimmy!', 'married!' and someone named … Ralphie? I don't know, you try understanding a robot who can literally speak at the speed of light (or close to it!).

I was alone in the kitchen, busy sweeping up when I heard the front door swing open. I paused and held my breath…

"Are they back yet, are they back yet, are they back yet?" four young voices merged together. I smiled and shook my head as I resumed sweeping. It was just Delbert, Amelia, and their children. I took a deep breath. My stomach was in knots. _Why am I so nervous?_ It wasn't like I know Jim or his new wife.

Well, that was somewhat of a lie … I mean I didn't _know_ Jim but I'd … seen him before. As for his wife…. What BEN had said? Something about a Ralphie person? … _He couldn't have meant … no. That would be impossible … right?_

I was so lost in thought, only the, "THEY'RE HERE!" from the children snapped me out of my stupor. I realized I'd been leaning on the broom, staring into space. At least I wasn't drooling …

Still holding the broom, I walked into the dining area. A young man with brown hair stood in the doorway being used as a jungle gym by the children and a hugging post by BEN. Morph was snuggled up to his cheek, grinning. Mrs. Hawkins stood off to the side, happy tears welling up in her eyes. _I guess there are two Mrs. Hawkins now_, I thought timidly.

The woman behind him – I could only assume to be his wife – was bent over; I could see little Daniel sitting on the floor hugging her leg as if his life depended on it. All I could see of her was her long wavy strawberry blonde hair. _Wait a minute … strawberry blonde …_

Finally she looked up to take in the other faces in the room; she was smiling and laughing, her face full of joy. Then our eyes met.

I dropped the broom.

It clattered loudly on the hard wood floor. We stared at one another in shock. A long moment passed; it felt like an hour. The others noticed and the talking and laughter died off. Jim looked back and forth between us; confusion etched onto his face.

"Raphaelle…?" I was the first to find my voice; though it was barely above a whisper.

"Kisa…?" she breathed.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**First off I'd like to say that t****his is a spin off story of PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid's stories and I had full permission from her to write this and to use her characters. We collaborated on the story together as well. **

**Second, I'd like to thank PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid for letting me write this! (So thanks Raphaelle!) **

**I'm basing Kisa off of my looks and my personality. (Well I'm somewhat basing Kisa's personality off of my own.) If you go to my deviantART (there's a link on the QueensOfWeirdness profile page) there's a picture of me on there.**

**I had a lot of fun writing this story as a whole (yes it's completed; I'll try and post as least one chapter a day, if not more). I really liked writing and describing the ball room scene here. Maybe it's just me wanted to dress up and go to a ball like a princess… And I'm not very girly either … Still it sounds like fun!**

**I love reviews so please leave one! You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle belongs to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa belongs to me **


	2. Chapter 1

There's no Place like Home

Chapter One

We continued to stare at each other for a moment before she made the first move. Daniel had let her leg go so she could move freely. She embraced me, burying her head in my shoulder and pulling my head down onto hers; we were about the same height, though I was a touch taller.

"How?" she whispered into my hair, "How are you here, Kisa?"

"Long story," I mumbled back, "tell ya later…"

When we pulled apart, I realized I'd been crying. I quickly wiped my tears away and sniffed. I hate crying around others; I don't care how well I know the people I'm with. Raphaelle had tears in her eyes as well, though she wasn't as quick to wipe them away.

"You two know each other?" Amelia asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.

"We…" I stopped. How much did everyone know?

"We were in the same orphanage for some time. After Kisa here got adopted we kept in touch." Raphaelle supplied. Then she turned to me, "I haven't seen you in forever."

I smiled sheepishly, "Yeah… Sorry 'bout that…" I glanced at the ground, suddenly aware of how many pairs of eyes were on me. Around people I don't know well, I'm shy. Very, very shy…

"Yeah, well, it's partly my fault as well…" she smiled at me before turning to formally introduce me to Jim and the others.

Later that night, after Jim and Raphaelle had moved their suitcases inside and the dinner rush ended, I found myself alone in the kitchen once again.

_Sweeping. Why do I always get stuck sweeping? Back home we don't even own a broom!_ I thought, piling up as much dust as I could. _Home_. That word struck a nerve; I missed my home and my family terribly.

"Hey Melody."

I didn't have to turn around to know who was speaking; only one person has ever called me by that name. "Hey Ariel," I smirked, using Raphaelle's nickname.

"Come here, I want to show you something."

"Ariel, I have no money. I'm working for a room and some food."

"And mom can afford to spare you for a few minutes; she said you're a hard worker," a male voice added.

This time I turned around. I found both Raphaelle and Jim standing in the kitchen doorway. "Weren't you two in the sitting area talking with everyone?" I asked. If they could be talking to family, why were they talking to me?

"Yeah, but I talked to them two weeks ago. I haven't seen or talked to you in years, Kisa."

I smiled and rolled my eyes, "Alright, alright!" What can I say? I'm a bit of a go-with-the-flow-push-over kind of girl. I'm pretty sure it's in my genes. "Where to?"

Apparently 'where to' was the roof. Jim sat down, leaning against the chimney, his arm wrapped around Raphaelle's waist. She patted the spot next to her and I sat. She swung her arm around my shoulder. For a moment, the three of us sat there together, watching the sun set on the horizon.

After a moment, the strawberry blonde next to me broke the silence, "How did you get here, Kisa? To this universe, I mean."

I glanced around her at Jim, "I don't know what your-"

"I know. About the world you two come from." He spoke up.

I nodded and started over, "I don't really know … I don't remember … I went to bed one night at home and I woke up here with a pain splitting headache …" I paused," You know what's funny? You being here, Raphaelle, it hasn't changed the movie. I watched it recently with Marda and it had the same characters, the same plot … the same everything as when we were little."

She thought for a moment before asking, "Your younger adopted sister, Marda?" I nodded. "Isn't she blind?" she asked with a wink.

When we were younger, after I'd been adopted, Raphaelle would come over on rare occasion. Sometimes my new family and I would take her out shopping or to eat, and if we happened to see people pointing at and/or whispering about my sister, we would say in loud and overly dramatic voices, 'Oh my gosh, Kisa! Did you know your little sis was blind!?' 'No, Raphaelle really?!' Then in a serous voice I'd add, 'She does everything we do so well that I am always forgetting that.' Then we'd send knowing glares at whomever had been whispering. They tended to leave, quickly. Anyone who bothered to take notice of her before then jumped to conclusions would see that she acts so normal, it's hard to tell that she really is blind.

I took note that Jim looked a little nervous, like he was afraid his wife had just offended me, so I laughed whole heartedly at her question, "Yeah, she is. I guess she wasn't watching it so much as she was just sitting in the same room reading a braille book." I smiled at the memory; she loved reading. "My point being," I changed the subject back, "if the movie itself didn't change with all that's happened … I think we're in a parallel universe. Well sort of … a parallel universe would probably have parallel us's."

"Says who?" Jim asked.

I shrugged, "I don't know … I guess we could have a parallel universe without parallel us's… So I guess this is another dimension."

Raphaelle seemed lost in thought for a moment, then she nodded, "It would make sense … I mean, with Alex and now you being here …"

"Alex?" the blood drained from my face. I drew a deep breath and then the words poured from my mouth, "Like Alex the bully from the orphanage, Alex? Like the one who used to call you Goldie-locks and who used to call me 'little weakling'? The same Alex who, after he was adopted, got a party thrown in his honor because we were so glad he was gone?" I paused and took another deep breath, "That Alex?!" I gave her my best You-Have-Got-To-Be-Kidding-Me-Look, my eyes popping out of my head, my mouth gaping slightly.

"The one and only." Her gaze was fixed straight ahead, her mouth in a tight line, as if she was reminiscing in an unwanted memory. I noticed that Jim had tightened his grip around his wife's waist, but neither said anything.

"You threw him a party?!" Jim asked after a moment as he stared at us.

"After his new parents came to pick him up, the orphanage coordinator lady said we should have a party since none of us liked him. He bullied everybody at one point or another." I explained. In truth, Raphaelle was the one who had been bullied the most. He hadn't bullied me often and when he did, I'd simply stare at him. Most things seemed to go over my head, especially in those days. Still, it had made me sad when he made Raphaelle and the others sad.

"And now he is wheeeeeeere?" I asked.

"Locked up in a maximum security prison for the rest of his days." She said matter-a-factly.

"OhthankGod!" I placed a hand on my chest and exhaled; one less thing – or should I say, one less person – for me to worry about. Wait … "And he's locked up whhhhhy?"

"He kidnapped me, then he kidnapped Amelia and Delbert's children, then he kidnapped me again-"

"I get it." I intruded, "He enjoys kidnapping people."

"Yeah…"

"So you have family back in your universe? Do you want to go back?" Jim asked changing the subject.

"Yeah." I brought my knees up to my chest and rested my head on them. I was glad for the length of the dress Mrs. Hawkins had lent me, "I was adopted when I was eight, ten years ago. My family is super nice; I got lucky. Not everyone who gets adopted gets adopted into a good family." We'd all heard the nasty rumors that went around about all the adoptions that didn't end well. I shuddered at the thought. "They must be worried sick …"

"How long have you been here?" Raphaelle asked quietly.

"About a week." I counted back in my head, "It'll be a week tomorrow actually."

"We'll find a way to get you home." Jim stated and his wife nodded in agreement, "One way or another."

I smiled gratefully at them, "Thanks guys. Thank you so much!"

The three of us sat there for a few minutes longer before we headed back down stairs. Raphaelle and Jim were staying at the Inn until they found a house of their own. It worked out nicely; they were staying in Jim's old bedroom and I was in Raphaelle's old room.

I lay awake that night reminiscing on all of the 'adventures' Raphaelle and I had gone on in the orphanage, and of the different times my adopted brother had taught my sister and me self-defense. I fell asleep remembering the time me, Raphaelle, and one of the other girls at the orphanage had snuck into the kitchen and stolen a bowl of strawberries. The three of us had brought them back to the playroom where everyone stayed up late (unknown to the orphanage coordinator) and snacked on them while telling ghost stories. In hindsight, it wasn't as rebellious an act as we had thought at the time, and the ghost stories hadn't been all that scary.

* * *

"Wake up! Come on, Kisa! Wake up!" I rolled over and pulled my covers over my head. Why there was a bird sitting next to my head talking, I had no idea.

"Kisa!"

"Ugh! What?" I sat up. Apparently, the little bird that had been sitting by my head was Raphaelle. "What time is it?" I mumbled as I glanced at the clock, 5:09am. "Okay, I don't get up this early in the morning even when I swim in the summer!"

"What time do you get up then?"

"Five fifteen." She blinked at me, "Yeah I know, not a big difference. Now what do you want?"

"Amelia's down stairs and she wants to talk to us. 'Us' being you, me and Jim."

I sighed and threw my covers back. Big mistake. My bed had been nice and warm, but the air in the room was cold. Goose bumps immediately rose on my skin and I rubbed my arms. I reached for my dress which I had slung over a chair the night before. I lazily pulled it on and ran my figures through my short blonde hair. It would be flipping up in various directions, comb or no comb. "Good enough?" I asked, still half asleep.

She nodded, "Let's go." Jim was waiting outside my bedroom, leaning against the wall. Raphaelle grabbed his hand as we passed him and the three of us made our way down the stairs.

Amelia was sitting down stairs in the dining area, sipping tea from a BenBow Inn mug. _How long has she been here?_ I wondered. Upon seeing us, she set the mug down and stood up, "Ah good, you're all here. Let's get on down to the docks, shall we?"

"Um, how? …" Jim started. He was wondering how she had gotten inside. At least that's what I think he was wondering. I kind of hoped it was since I wanted to know the same thing.

The feline woman held up a silver key, "Your mother gave it to me some time ago." She explained before tucking it back into her pants pocket, "Now, we don't have forever. Step lively!"

The four of us made our way down the steep slope to the awaiting ship.

"Now, make no mistake," Amelia turned and faced Jim; "this is one of my ships. I'm not simply handing her over to you two, not at first anyway. I do appreciate all you've done for my family and I, don't get me wrong. She may be yours someday. But for the time being, I figured you could use a ship."

"For what?" Jim asked, seeming confused. In all fairness, it was just after five in the morning.

"For getting Kisa here back home again." She nodded at me and smiled.

I blinked, it took me a moment to find my voice, "Thank you." I said. The captain nodded in response.

"You're going to need a crew Jim. Have anyone in mind?"

He smiled, "I know a few people I could ask."

* * *

"So, how are we getting me home?" I asked later at breakfast. Jim, Raphaelle and I were sitting at a corner table munching on pancakes.

The couple looked at each other for a moment. "You two _do_ know that whole 'couples communicating with their eyes' thing only works when you're a part of the couple! Which, just saying, I'm not a part of!"

They looked at me. "There's a barren, lifeless planet in the-" Jim began.

"Telling me exactly where it is wouldn't help me." I interrupted, "But telling me how this thing on the planet works and how I can get home would be useful."

"You'll need to smear some of your blood on a stone structure, think Stonehenge, and it'll open a portal to your- our world."

I thought for a moment and slowly nodded, "Okay, so I can go home. Can … could I ever, you know, come back? To see you?"

"With your blood? No." My friend kept her eyes on me. There was something she wasn't telling me.

"Buuut…." I supplied.

"But if we used my blood … then you could come back."

I nodded. "Well if it's your blood than it's your choice." I held a hand up signaling Raphaelle to not speak, "Your blood, your choice." I stuffed a piece of pancake into my mouth and smiled at her with chipmunk cheeks. Raphaelle laughed, despite her best efforts, and continued eating as well.

Suddenly, Sara appeared out of nowhere; a smile on her face. I glanced over at my old friend with an unsure feeling growing in my stomach. "Morning Sara." I gave her a small smile.

"Are you girls free around ten?" she asked, nodding to Raphaelle and me.

"Um, whyyyyy?" I looked over at the couple in front of me. They both shrugged, not knowing where this was going either.

"For a shopping trip of course! You'll need clothes for your journey Kisa."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Alright, so that was chapter one! (Gosh it feels like forever since I wrote this! xD Haha!) I hope you liked it!**

**I don't have too much to say for this chapter ... In case you're wondering (you're probably not but I'm going to tell you anyway) yes when I swam in the summers I'd get up at 5:15 a.m. (or somewhere around there) ... Swimmers are insane, we know.**

**Leave a review please! Critiques are welcome but please no flames.**

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle belongs to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa belongs to me**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	3. Chapter 2

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Two

I stood in front of the dressing room tri-mirror, admiring myself. I absolutely loved my outfit! Black pants, a blue blouse and surprisingly comfortable black shin-high boots. I looked like a pirate and I felt as if I were a child playing dress up. _Best. Shopping. Trip. Ever!_ (And I am not a big fan of clothes shopping!)

"Now we'll almost match!" Raphaelle laughed as she stood back to admire me.

"Huh?" I looked over my shoulder at her.

"I have an outfit like that, just in different colors; brown pants and a white top."

I shuddered. "White…" I have a bad track record with white clothes… My statement simply made Raphaelle laugh harder.

Both Mrs. Hawkins' insisted on me getting a dress as well. Why, I had no clue. I'd certainly spent enough time in dresses that past week. But … it had been kind of fun – like I was transported back in time. You know, with crazy awesome technology.

After nearly a half hour of looking, I finally found a dress I absolutely loved. It was a halter top in navy blue that fell to the floor. Where the strap came together at the bust was a silver gem brooch in the shape of three tilted squares stacked atop each other. The fabric across my bust was pulling up towards the brooch. From said brooch, see-through navy blue fabric V-ed down to the floor. We found a pair of navy blue, closed-toe flats with a bow on the toes to go with them. I do not wear high heels; they're a twisted ankle waiting to happen.

Sara insisted on paying for my clothes and after a few minutes of arguing, I gave in. There was no use fighting a battle you know you're going to lose. Besides, it wasn't like I had any money. The real debate was about how much harder I'd work at the Inn in exchange for the clothes. But she would have none of it. She was buying my new outfits and I wasn't allowed to know how much it all cost.

When we were finally done shopping, it was just after two in the afternoon. Sara treated us to a late lunch at a local café in the Montressor Market Place. We found a table in the back next to a corner window, which overlooked the market place. I couldn't help but feel guilty for how much money Sara was spending on me. I decided to work extra hard at the Inn the next few days; to 'pay' her back for all of her generosity.

"It feels like just yesterday I was taking you out shopping, Raphaelle, before you left for Treasure Planet," she was almost getting misty eyed, "And now you're my daughter-in-law!"

Luckily the waiter came with our food before Mrs. Hawkins could burst into tears. I was glad for the save. If she started crying, I'd have lost it too. And I did not want to cry in public; ever.

We chatted lightly about nothing interesting while we ate. I had no idea what I was putting into my body and I preferred it to stay that way… maybe it was some sort of chowder …

Sara paid for the food as Raphaelle and I gathered my bags. The three of us made our way outside into the afternoon sun. I tucked the bag containing my new dress under my arm and shaded my face with my free hand. It was a beautiful day. The sun shown bright, the air was warm on my skin, and the breeze was comfortable. I smiled up at the cloud free blue sky; today was turning out to be great!

I should have known thinking something so wonderful would have jinxed it...

Suddenly, a crash came from inside, causing me to jump nearly ten feet into the air. Moments later, a fat man dressed in all white burst through the front doors – no doubt the chef – dragging a boy by the arm. The boy couldn't be much older than me. His sandy blond hair fell in a shaggy mess around his head. His bangs were just short enough to stay out of his eyes. He wore a ratty pair of dark blue jeans and a simple black t-shirt. The dishrag hanging over his shoulder led me to believe he was some sort of kitchen boy.

The chef was red faced and screaming at the top of his lungs. "GET OUT OF MY RESTAURANT!" he bellowed, grabbing the dishrag and literally throwing the boy out the door. He landed on his side right in front of us, almost on top of my feet. He glared at the chef before standing, brushing himself off, and flipping him the bird. The man turned with an audible 'humpf!' and all but slammed the doors shut. From inside I could barely hear him yelling at the employees to clean up the mess.

The boy turned and full on ran into me. I dropped my bag and fell flat on my bottom, almost knocking him down with me. The dress tumbled out of its bag and onto the dusty road. _Gross_. It would need a washing tonight.

The ex-kitchen boy reeled his arms, but stayed on his feet. He took a step back and sent a dirty look my way. "Watch it will ya, Klutz!" he sneered at me.

"Klutz?" I questioned, then laughed, "I'm so clumsy that's almost a compliment!" While it was a true statement, I was also trying to make light the situation. Maybe he'd at least lend me a hand or pick up my dress. I had no such luck.

Instead he snorted, "Wow. You must really like sitting on your butt all day then, since you can't seem to stand on your feet. You know, some of us call that lazy." My eyes widened and my face reddened. He spat in the dirt only inches from me and turned to walk away. "Oh, and Klutzy?" he stopped and looked over his shoulder, "Watch where you're going next time, will ya?" With that he broke into a jog and was gone within moments.

Raphaelle offered me a hand. I grabbed her wrist and she grabbed mine. As she helped pull me to my feet, Sara scooped up my dress and promised to throw it in the wash when we got home. I took the dress, back in its bag, and held it close so as not to drop it again.

"Well that was … how do I put that nicely…?" I paused and pondered.

"Extremely rude?" Raphaelle supplied.

"Yes! He was extremely rude! Erg! I do _not_ like that boy!" I all but grit my teeth together, "at least I won't ever have to see him again!" Inside, I prayed that I hadn't just jinxed myself again.

When we finally made our way back to the BenBow Inn, it was three thirty in the afternoon. We had been gone for almost six hours. No one seemed to care though. I guess the day had been pretty slow. Sara threw my dress in the wash and walked into the kitchen, rolling up her sleeves, "Now it's time for the dinner rush." She announced.

Later that night after our dinner, Raphaelle and Jim told us all about where they went and what they saw on their honeymoon. When they got to the ball on their last night, Sara, BEN, and I let out an 'ahhh!' and BEN clasped his hands under his chin. Everyone looked at the robot for a moment before bursting out laughing. His giant saucer eyes coupled with the look on his face was hysterical.

Sara (along with the rest of us) wanted to see Raphaelle in her new dress; so we decided to have a little fashion show. She donned her new gown, and I slipped on my new newly washed dress, and we hurried back down stairs. Everyone fell in love with our dresses. For once in my life, being the center of attention wasn't so bad.

* * *

No one woke me the next morning. By the time I finally woke up, I realized it was a quarter to ten. Freaking out, I jumped from my bed and changed in record time. Down stairs, I could hear Raphaelle helping Sara wash the morning dishes. I could hear BEN's arm clinking lightly as he whipped something together with his built-in whisk. I could see the other employees, who were either clearing and wiping down tables or mopping the floors. I stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment feeling lost; I had no idea what to do.

Slowly I turned around, ready to climb the stairs again; might as well brush my teeth and make myself look presentable before letting everyone else know I was (finally) awake. I made it up two stairs before I heard metal feet behind me.

"Good morning sleepyhead!" Two metal arms wrapped around my body, pulling me off the steps. I shrieked; I hated being picked up. Being on the tall side of average height, it doesn't happen a lot, which probably doesn't help. I kicked my legs a couple of times before I realized who was behind me.

"BEN! Put me down!" I screamed. My feet touched the ground, the arms released me and I whipped around, "I don't want to sound mean, but I hate being pick up! Especially off of stairs!" I took a few deep breaths to calm my now racing heart.

"I'm sorry Keys!" The old 'bot had given me the nickname moments after I first met him.

I sighed again, "It's alright BEN. I'm just frazzled because I over-slept." I ran a hand through the top of short hair.

"Oh, you didn't oversleep! We let you sleep in!"

"What?" They let me sleep in? "Why didn't anyone tell me this last night?!"

"So you'd be surprised! Opp!" The moment the word 'surprised' left his lips, he clapped his hands over his mouth.

"Surprised?" My brows knotted in confusion, "Surprised about what?"

"This!" I turned to find Raphaelle and Sara standing behind a table. Morph, who had been circling around their heads, suddenly exploded into a tiny pile of confetti before reforming back to himself. On said table was a plate of chocolate chip pancakes. My mouth watered.

"For me?" I asked walking over to the table. They nodded. "Why?"

"For all of your help. Raphaelle said you love these."

"I do … but you bought me clothes and lunch yester-"

"Yes," Sara cut me off, "but then you came home and worked extra hard. And you've been getting up early every day since you came, so we thought we would let you sleep in." The in-laws smiled at me.

I smiled back. "Thank you," I whispered as I sat down and took a bite. The pancakes were amazing!

The next morning, I made sure to be awake on time to help with the breakfast rush.

Jim – who had been readying the ship over the past two days – suggested Raphaelle and I pack for the journey. He said his crew should be arriving any time that day. It didn't take me long; I only had the few items of clothes Sara had bought for me, which I packed in the bag she had also given me. I also made sure my small bag was with me. It had somehow ended up in this universe when I did. It held the few possessions – including my jewelry – which I had owned before ending up at the Inn. After packing, I sat down and wrote a thank-you note to her. I slipped it under the door of her bedroom when it was finished.

I found the Hawkins family sitting downstairs, relaxing before our journey. I had just plopped down on a window seat when I heard an engine humming in the distance. It grew louder and louder. A minute later, we could hear a small shuttle land outside. Jim smiled. "Well, it sounds like our crew is here!"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Any guesses for who the crew is? :3 (I'd give you a cookie if you guess right buuut alas my teleportor machine is broken ... ;) )**

**So the dress Kisa bought (well Sara bought for Kisa ... you know what I mean!) was my senior Prom dress. I kept going back and forth on which of my dresses I wanted Kisa to have then I bought my prom dress and I was like, "This one! Kisa will get this dress in my story!" Haha! (On a side note: I love my dress! :3 It's simply but eloquent and I'll be able to wear it again for other formal events. Hopefully.) I'll have a picture or two on deviantART soon if you want to see what if looks like. :) Oh and I want an outfit like Kisa's and Raphaelle's! xD**

**Anyway I'm as wity as Kisa is ... If someone (like the ex-Kitchen boy) said that to me I'd probably just stare at him/her with a dumb expression on my face ...**

**Chocolate chip pancakes are amazing! (Just saing')**

**Well that's all for this AN!**

**As always, I love reviews so please leave one! You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle belongs to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa belongs to me **

**Written by me**

******Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid **


	4. Chapter 3

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Three

As it turned out, our crew was made up of Jim and Raphaelle's old friends from the Interstellar Academy; Iris, Jennifer, Nerita, Adelaide, Gabriel, Angela, and Austin. I wondered how long it would take for me to learn their names … I've never been good with names…

The Hawkins and their new crew spent the day organizing and gathering everything and anything we would need for our trip. I, on the other hand, spent the day helping Sara and trying to memorize who was who. Sara was a great help with the names. I did better than I'd expected; by dinner I almost had them down. Almost. I still couldn't remember the name of the girl covered in light green scales or the girl who bore an Asian appearance; of course I don't think Asia exists in this universe...

Because we had to cook and serve the dinner rush, we always ate dinner late at the Inn. Once the tables had been cleared and cleaned, Sara and I took the rectangular tables and pushed them together to create one long table. We made up plates of the extra food from dinner and placed them at each place setting. I plopped down in an empty chair in front of a plate of noodles, sauce, bread, and vegetables and waited politely until everyone else was seated around me.

"I like your earrings," the small brunette with light purple eyes smiled at me. She seemed to be on the shy side, just like me. I decided she would be the easiest one to strike up a conversation with.

"Thanks," I smiled back as I reached up to touch them. They – along with the rest of my jewelry – had been in my bag from Earth. Miniature homemade dream catchers dangled from my ears. My jewelry – which consisted of my pale yellow and orange friendship bracelet a friend had made me, my brown watch, my three rings (two of which were handmade), my homemade wire bracelet and my homemade wire wrapped necklace – were they only items I wore from my world. What can I say? I love jewelry – especially the homemade wire wrap jewelry my adopted grandparents made. "I love your eye color!"

"Thanks! I'm half Mutator Formarum." She must have read the confusion that was no doubt written on my face. "Oh, sorry! I forget not everyone knows what that means… Mutator Formarums are shape shifters. Since I'm a half-breed I can only control the color of my eyes and my hair. But Adelaide over there," she pointed to the Asian girl sitting near the end of table (so that was her name), "is a full Mutator Formarum; she can shape shift into anything."

"Cool," I whispered, "so is that her real appearance then?"

Iris shrugged, "I guess only she knows for sure. We consider it to be since that's the appearance she favors." As the meal wore on, it became easier for me to talk to the others as well. I learned Nerita could breathe underwater (which made me incredibly jealous!) and that Angela and Gabriel were angel-like creatures. They could fly (again, jealous!) and they were dating. Austin had been top of their class in math, science and navigation, and Jennifer was a skilled fighter and a tomboy; a tomboy with fancy finger and toenails.

BEN joined in on the conversation at some point as he brought out a tray full of little cakes for dessert. Apparently, Jim and Raphaelle had found him on Treasure Island; he enlightened us with every little detail of the adventure. _Why does this sound so familiar?_ It took me a moment to remember; _oh yeah … the movie … we are in the universe of the movie …_

By the time I crawled into bed, it was past midnight. I fell asleep hoping no one would shake me awake before seven a.m. Thankfully, Raphaelle didn't wake me until nine. She was still dressed in her blue nightgown, which told me she had just awakened herself. A groggy, half-asleep Morph hovered in one place over her right shoulder. Apparently no one was awake yet.

We all ate breakfast with Sara and the Doppler family. After the morning meal, it was time to bid everyone farewell.

"Take care, Kisa! Have a save trip home!" Sara hugged me and a feeling of safety washed over me, reminding me of my own mother. I was afraid I'd start crying, but soon I found myself in the metal clutches of BEN and the feeling passed. I was too busy not breathing to worry about tears. For such a scrawny robot, he sure was strong.

When BEN finally set me free, I turned around and found little Daniel, Brittney, Rachel and Jessie attaching themselves to the front of my legs. "Guys!" I shrieked through laugher. Unfortunately, that's when I lost my balance and fell back onto my bottom, again. On the ground, I gathered the children up in my arms and embraced them, "I'll miss you, you little cuties!" I whispered to them. I stood and shook hands with Amelia and Delbert before the dog man pulled me into a hug. Amelia joined in and we soon found the four children at our legs.

Morph snuggled up to my cheek, crying. I patted him, "I'll miss you too Morph! Watch everyone for me!" I was telling him this for when I was back on Earth; he'd be coming with us. So why he was crying I didn't know.

We were descending the steep steps down to the dock and the ship, _The Journey_, when Jim told me about the new cabin boy.

"Cabin boy? When did you get a cabin boy?"

"Yesterday," he answered.

"You're going to trust a guy who you met only yesterday?" I raised an eyebrow at him, "Are you sure that's such a great idea?"

"That would be a horrible idea," he agreed, "but I didn't meet him yesterday. I met him years ago when I was sixteen and he was fourteen."

I shrugged and boarded the ship. If Jim had known him that long then he must not be that bad of a guy. I took back that thought when I met the cabin boy ten seconds later.

As soon as both my feet were on the boat, someone ran in front of me as he lifted a bundle of purps up from the deck, smacking them into my shoulder in the process. It hurt the fruits more than it hurt me, but it was still rude.

"Hey, watch where you're goin-" he started as he stopped and turned. Our eyes met and we both stood there and stared.

A moment passed, "You!" I gasped. It couldn't be him, but it was: the kitchen boy! The one from the café who had been so rude to me! _Oh this is not happening!_

He grinned and chuckled, "Hey Klutzy. I didn't think I'd be seeing you around here." With that, he walked away down into the kitchen. As I glared after him, I could hear Raphaelle mumble behind me, "Well, this will be an interesting trip."

* * *

For once, I had the urge to grind my teeth together, and grinding teeth is one of my pet peeves! That is how annoyed I was with the new 'cabin boy'. If I had it my way, I would have avoided him for the rest of trip, or at least the rest of the day. Unfortunately for me, neither of those happened…

Two hours into the trip and I found myself on deck with Mr. Mop and Mrs. Bucket … and the new Cabin Boy…

"Soooo," he asked leaning on his mop as he watched me work; he had yet to do anything, "you must have a name that's not Klutzy. What is it?"

"Are you going to call me by my name if I tell it to you?" I asked, pausing only for a moment. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to him. I was too busy thinking at least Mr. Mop wasn't Mr. Broom.

"Probably not," he shrugged.

"Then I'm not going to tell you." I continued to mop and tried my best to ignore him; besides it's not like I knew his name.

"Kisa!" Raphaelle called as she walked up to us. Cabin Boy stood up straight and began working as soon as she came into view. I could see a knowing smile on his face as I looked up. I tried not to glare at my old friend. She didn't know I was trying not to tell him my name. "Jim wants to talk to us for a few minutes." She jerked a thumb towards the Captain's quarters.

I nodded, propped my mop up against a wall (only to have it fall a few seconds later) and followed my friend up to the Captain's quarters. Jim sat with his feet up on the desk, messing with a puzzle cube. An exact replica of said puzzle cube was floating in the air about him. Jim seemed small in the enclosed space, like he needed to be out in the open air.

When he saw us enter he kicked his feet off the desk, stood up, and set the newly-finished cube down. Morph changed back and followed Jim around to the front of his desk, "Now that we've launched I figured we should all talk." He paused; we waited, "I think we should explain to the crew where you two come from, why we're doing what we're doing. But it's your world, so what do you two think?"

I looked at Raphaelle. She looked at me. We both turned back to Jim and nodded.

As much as I didn't want Cabin Boy to know anything about me – which he could, in turn, use negatively against me – I realized the crew (this sadly meant the whole crew) had a right to know what they were getting into.

Jim said nothing and gave us a simple nod. He had the crew gathered on the deck fifteen minutes later. That was the first time I noted how young we all were. We were all under twenty two years of age. I was unsure if I should marvel or be nervous at the fact that we were most likely one of the youngest crews out there.… The Hawkins stood in front of them holding hands; I stood off to the side, more out of sight.

Raphaelle spoke first, "We thought you should all know the truth about where we're going and about where Kisa and I really come from." The faces staring back at us were wrinkled with confusion.

"We're from Earth… it's in a … another dimension of sorts," I spoke up, trying not to sweat. Public speaking and I are not the best of friends. Raphaelle went on to explain our situation and how she'd come here. "I don't know how I got to this universe," I admitted, "I just woke up here a little over a week ago with a splitting headache …"

When the explanation was finished no one spoke for a while. When they did speak, they spoke all at once.

"You came from-"

"Why didn't you tell-?"

"Come on Raphaelle, Jim! You guys know you can-"

"I would never tell-"

"HEY!" We all turned to the Cabin Boy who stood straight with his hands cupped around his mouth in a makeshift megaphone, "One at a time!" he snapped.

"Thanks Jay." So his name is Jay, I resisted the urge to smirk at him. Now we were even; he knew my name and I knew his.

"No problem." He directed his voice at Jim but was looking directly at me.

"Why didn't you tell us before? We wouldn't tell anyone. Didn't you trust us?" Nerita asked calmly.

"No it's not that … but would you have believed me? And we decided it was better that the fewer people who knew the better. Until right now the only person I've told is Jim."

"And I haven't told a soul … but I haven't been here very long…" I chimed in timidly before sinking back out of the way.

"So… how mad are all of you?" the strawberry blond asked, almost wincing back as if she thought they would strike her.

As it turned out they weren't mad, just disappointed about not being told for years.

"You have some genuine friends here Ariel," I said around my toothbrush later that night as we readied ourselves for bed. We stood in our pajamas – a blue nightgown for Raphaelle and cotton pink and blue plaid shorts with a navy blue dry fit t-shirt for me – in the bathroom of the captain's quarters. I would be sleeping down with the crew on a comfortable enough mattress in the corner. I had hung up a sheet to make a 'third wall' that secluded me from the rest of crews' sleeping quarters. I had my own little piece of solitude; the introvert in me enjoyed that small seclusion.

"Yeah," she ran a brush through her hair as she looked at me, "do you ever wonder what you did to gain great friends?"

I spit toothpaste into the sink, "Every day."

"Right now is one of those times."

I looked up at her from the sink, "Do you want a list as to what you've done in the past to gain great friends?"

She laughed, "You and your lists Melody!"

"What's wrong with lists?! They're fun to cross off…" I turned back to the sink and rinsed my mouth. In a serious voice I told her, "You're a great friend, that's why you have great friends." I gave her a big smile, bid her goodnight and skipped out the door. I passed Jim who sat on the queen-sized bed, fully clothed and reading. I bid him a goodnight as well before finding myself outside skidding to a stop on the deck. The stars. The stars shown all around us, sparkling so vibrantly it took my breath away. Deep down, I wished I could stay on the ship in this universe awhile longer; I could get used to a view like this.

I later learned to be careful what you wish for; it may just come true …

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Soooo how many of you guessed who was on the crew and got it correct? =3 (Here's a virtual cookie if you did! xD Sorry, no real cookies ... my teleportation machine is still busted ... ;) )**

**I like jewelry can you tell? xD**

**The ex-kitchen boy is back! And he has a name. =3**

**So when I first started writing this and coming up the plot etc there was no Jay. Then Raphaelle suggested him and I loved the idea so I took it and ran with it. (That happened a lot by the way, her suggesting an idea and me taking it and running. This story wouldn't be very good without her help!)**

**I love reviews so please leave one! (It can be anonymous if you like, I don't care.) You can critique my work as well but please no flames.**

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid (I just realized this but I should have put that Alex belongs to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid in chapter one when I first mentioned him. Sorry!)**

**Kisa belongs to me**

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me. (She suggested him and I created his character and personality.)**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	5. Chapter 4

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Four

Three days into the trip we docked at a planet for supplies and whatnot, and to stretch our legs. Well, I was getting off the ship to stretch my legs.

The first few days had been … interesting. Jay had been a (how to put this nicely?… Oh wait! I can't!) a totally pain in my behind. On our first full day aboard he had "tripped" while carrying a bucket of dirty dish water and doused me with it. Purposely or not, he didn't offer an apology; he just stood up, grabbed the now empty bucket and walked away. After I changed into a clean and dry pair of clothes, we found ourselves helping Raphaelle make lunch. The process of making lunch was fine and dandy, it was the dish washing that did not end well. We weren't even half way through with washing when he walked off and left me to do the work alone. Luckily for me, Iris showed up shortly after and helped me finish. And that was only half the day.

I found myself swabbing the deck alone once again. To make matters worse, I was down on my hands and knees Cinderella style behind some barrels. My pants were getting soaked, my knees were killing me, my hair was falling in my face (it was too short to shove into a ponytail and I didn't have a headband) and I was fairly certain the back of neck was getting sun burnt. I was too sore and tired to be in a good mood; even with Morph attempting to help by turning into a sponge and swabbing the deck beside me. That's about the time I heard the voices. All I could hear were blurred together sounds, so I stayed low and crept along to the edge of the barrels until I could make out the individual words.

"She's annoying!" definitely Jay's voice.

"Annoying how, Jay?" I heard Jim's voice, and he sounded … well, annoyed.

"Every time I turn around to do something, there she is! Can't a guy have his personal space?! And the way she talks! Grrr!"

_The way I talk? Oookaaaay …_

He continued on, "She always either overly polite or so … so…" he searched for the right word, "mad!" he finally spit out.

_Gee, I wonder who makes me mad! I'll give you one guess buddy!_ I thought in a cross inner voice.

"Go on." Jim pressed.

"I mean she's so quiet too, especially when she's polite! It's always 'excuse me!' or 'pardon?' or 'can you please do this or that?' and she rarely looks you in the eye! She'll get eaten alive out in the real world!"

"Maybe I'm missing your point, but do you like her?"

My face burned. From what, I don't know, but there was no pause on Jay's end, "No! She's … annoying! Like the bratty little sister I don't have or want!"

"Alright, alright. Calm down dude, I was just asking. Now, as annoying as you think she is, give her a chance. She's not a bad person from what I've seen, and Raphaelle knows her well. And you've left her to swab the deck alone long enough; get over there and help her." He must not have budged because Jim added in a stern voice, "That's an order, Jay."

I had to stifle a laugh as Morph turned into Jim and tried to mimic his, 'that's an order, Jay.' That little guy really knew how to lift someone's spirits.

For the rest of the afternoon Jaydid more zoning out then helping, but at least he didn't ditch me. We didn't talk the rest of that day outside of the occasional 'Hey watch it!'s and 'move!'s.

The next day was more or less the same, but I didn't hear a word of conversation between Jim and Jay. I also succeeded in not getting a bucket of water dumped on my head. To what insignificant amount of credit I owed him, Jay didn't ditch me. He didn't pull his weight and barely helped at all, but he didn't ditch me.

Until we docked and got on solid land that is.

Jim told us to split off into pairs or groups to prevent anyone from getting lost or kidnapped – he was looking straight at his wife when he said that. I swear I heard an 'again' mumbled under his breath as well but I wasn't sure. So, guess who I was paired with? Yep, Jay.

"Come on Klutzy! Stop dragging your feet!"

"I'm not dragging anything! I'm browsing!" I snapped. If polite annoyed him, maybe anger would get through his thick skull.

"Whatever! Just come on!" Well I have been wrong before …

We shoved through the crowds of people until we arrived at the next stall. We were docking here for miscellaneous items, from food to supplies to information. Jay and I were on the search for supplies. And when I say search, I mean search … we had no clue where anything was on this planet...

Jay stopped and asked a vender where to get something I couldn't pronounce, let alone figure out what to do with, when something caught my eye. A shop – an actual building – solely for scarfs and jewelry. I would be in seventh heaven if I could go inside. I didn't get a chance to wander in though, for Jay had grabbed a hold of my wrist and was dragging me away in a different direction.

"Really dude, I can walk on my own." I snapped after someone bumped into me and he jerked my wrist for the tenth time.

"Yeah, and you'll end up at some girly-girl stand oohing and aahing over useless junk."

"Useless junk?" I parroted in the form of a question, "so if you don't like it, it's useless junk? What the hell dude?!"

"Stop calling me dude!" his voice rose.

"Let go of my wrist! I'm not gunna run away!" I yelled, ignoring how horrible 'gunna' tasted rolling off my tongue.

He snorted, "yeah, right." But his hold loosened just enough for a quick jerk to free my wrist.

"Ha!" I leapt back and held up my arm, "I'm free!"

"Congratulations…" his voice was indifferent as he turned and slipped through the crowd. I hurried to keep up, but with so many people I could barely keep him in my sight. I managed to catch up with him when he stopped to pick up a part.

After he paid and turned to face me, I exploded, "What the hell?! Were you _trying_ to lose me?! I said I could walk on my own, I didn't say I could keep up if you ran!"

"There's a difference?" he gave me a smirk. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to slug him.

"Yes!" I screamed, "If you're going to drag me and just about break my wrist and then try to run away then I'll just meet you back at the ship!"

"Fine!" he shouted back, "and you can tell Jim and Raphaelle why we didn't stick together!"

"Fine!" I turned and tried to find my way back to the jewelry store. I couldn't find it, but I did manage to find another jewelry stall.

I was engrossed in all the different kinds of necklaces, so I failed to notice the stall keeper's sudden inaudible gasp and her dive under the table. Before I knew what was happening, two strong arms wrapped around me and pulled my feet off the ground.

"What-?"

"Not a word." A husky rough voice hissed in my ear. The blood drained from my face as I remembered what Jim had said. He didn't want us out alone because we might be kidnapped. _Is he trying to kidnap me?!_ I whimpered. "I said, not a word!" the man barked, "and that means no whimpering!"

For a moment of pure terror, I couldn't think at all; then something inside me snapped and I remembered the self-defense my brother had taught me.

I dropped all my weight onto my right leg, causing him to stumble. With my left arm I nailed him in the gut; his grip loosened and I spun, kicking him in the groin. He went down. I jumped over his curled up, fetal-positioned body and noticed he was a pirate. With the oversized hat he couldn't be anything else. I didn't stick around. I ran from the stall and right into Jay.

He caught my shoulders and held me at arm's length. Peering over my shoulder, he spied the man curled up on the ground and winced. "That hurts, trust me." He muttered, "Let's run." He grabbed my hand this time and ran. We ran almost side by side through the crowd of shoppers. My desire to get as far away as possible from the pirate pushed me to run faster and blurred out the crowd and faces around me. It wasn't like we were running that fast, we were just that scared.

When the ship came into view, we slowed to a walk. We both looked down and realized we were holding hands. We immediately dropped them and glanced away embarrassingly.

"Should we tell them?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.

I shrugged, "It was probably a freak thing, ya know?" I said it more to convince myself than to convince him. He nodded all the same and agreed that we not tell anyone about our run-in with a pirate.

* * *

I walked, linking my arm with Raphaelle's free one; her other hand was held within Jim's. Without turning around, I knew Angela and Gabriel were walking hand-in-hand with their shoulders pressed together. The others were more likely than not just strolling along in no big hurry. But I, on the other hand, was in a hurry; I was too excited not to be. We were all going out to dinner; which meant no cooking and more importantly, no dishes! I was tempted to tell Raphaelle how much I loved her (like a sister) again, but I figured I'd told her enough times in the last ten minutes as it was.

The bar/restaurant where we ate was crowded with people, but the wait wasn't long; apparently both head chefs had multiple arms.

I noticed once or twice that one of the Hawkins' would look over in the corner at a man covered in a long cloak and obscured by shadows. _Maybe they know him Kisa, stop being paranoid!_ I ordered myself; _no one's going to kidnap you here. Not with all of these witnesses._

After dinner, we slowly made our way outside and up the street. We were only a block away from the restaurant when Jim stopped, causing the rest of us to almost run into him.

I was about to ask why we stopped when he turned his head to the side and asked, "Can't a couple of good friends get a proper hello?" I was confused until the cloaked man from the bar walked out of the shadows of an alley and pulled off his hood.

"Why, I wouldn't think I'd have it any other way, Jimbo me boy! Ah, Mrs. Hawkins, as pretty as ever." He took off his hat and bowed to Raphaelle.

Raphaelle giggled and curtsied before running up to him and giving him a big hug. "I didn't think we'd see you again so soon. It's great to see you, Silver."

Morph flew out of Jim's pocket at the mention of Silver's name and rubbed up against the old pirate's cheek, "Ah Morph! How have ya been? Hope you're not causin' too much trouble!" He rubbed his finger against the blob's cheek.

Raphaelle smiled, "what brings you here?"

The old cyborg's smile faded, "Aye lass, it's nothin' good that brings me here. Nothin' good." He looked back and forth between the newlyweds, "we be needin' to talk," he glanced at the crew, "the lot o' us. It ain't good."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**So when I was writing this chapter I was reading _Catch 22_ for school. For those of you who haven't read it, the book's plot does not go in chronological order. Most of the book's plot skips around kind of like the beginning of this chapter. Those of you, who have read the book, know what I'm talking about. Anyway when I was writing this I thought, '_I've been reading too much_ Catch 22! _Now I'm writing like Joseph Heller_!' Haha! (I don't know if the the beginning of this chapter reminded you all of _Catch 22_ or not ... it could have been me just wanting to be done with the book. Don't get me wrong it was good book - and very dark at times - but it's just sooo long!) Okay moving on to something you (might) care about. **

**So how do y'all feel about Jay?**

**And why does that pirate want Kisa?! (Yeah, liked I tell you _that_!) Keep reading y'all the plot is thickening! **

**Yay, Silver's here! **

**I love reviews so please leave one! You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa belongs to me **

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by ****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	6. Chapter 5

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Five

"You know he's not talking to us, right?" Jay said as he leaned against a stone wall, his arms folded over his chest.

"Shhh!" I hushed him, mainly because I didn't want to talk. Speaking to each other had gotten us into enough trouble these past few days. But as much as I hated to admit it, he was right. Silver had taken Jim, Raphaelle and the rest of the crew into a small tavern to talk in hushed voices. Morph stayed close to Silver, and the Hawkins', floating between the three just above their heads. We had followed them, though we didn't need to. Jim had given us the freedom to wander around town, so long as were back at the ship in an hour. Yet, here we were on the other side of the tavern watching them whisper. We couldn't hear a word between any of them and I knew the look on Raphaelle's face would give me anxiety soon.

"Well I'm out. See ya later." He turned and paused, "Unless of course you decide you're going to be fun and not have a stick up your butt."

I scowled. _That little…_ I turned to him and plastered on a fake smile, "I can be fun! In fact, let's go check out the night life and I'll prove it!"

As it turned out, this planet had no night life, just a bunch of inns, taverns, and bars; none of which would let underage teens through their doors.

"Well, I'm going to go see if that shop is open." I declared, "Or at least window shop at it."

"Window shop?"

"Yeah, window shopping. Ya know, when you walk past shops and look in the windows to see if you actually want to go inside?" He gave me a blank look and my shoulders slumped, "Never mind. It's a girl thing."

"Uh huh…" he jammed his hands into his pockets and strolled alongside me. His sandy blond hair was messy and the night breeze wasn't helping that much. His baggy pants, dark long sleeve shirt and coat made him blend into the darkness well. I guess my hair didn't look much better and my clothes were helping me in the same way.

After a few blissful moments of silence, I spoke up, "Hey! It's this way! I know it is!"

"You're still caught up on that?"

"Duh. I'm a girl, they're scarfs and jewelry. Do the math! What part of that is surprising?"

He said nothing. We walked along in silence for a few minutes until we came to a familiar looking street. Rounding the corner, I smiled, "There it is!" I pointed. My feet were beginning to wander forward when a hand on my arm stopped me.

"What good will staring through the window of a closed store do?"

"It isn't closed." I protested. I could see lights on, but I was afraid they wouldn't be for much longer.

"Just come on Kisa!" He tried to drag me in the opposite direction.

"No! I don't care what you do, but I'm going to go take a look at that store!" I stomped my foot in a childish manner, yanked out of his grip and took off up the street. I paused in front of the window just long enough to watch Jay disappear around a corner before I ducked inside.

I was in a wall-to-wall floor-to-ceiling store packed full of everything from necklaces to bracelets to rings and scarfs of every color, shape and size. _Best. Shop. Ever!_ I squealed in my head. (Depending on the occasion and the place, I can be quite the girly-girl).

I began browsing, holding up different sets of jewelry and wrapping different scarfs around my neck. I was a little girl playing dress up all over again.

After ten minutes of being in pure heavenly bliss, the small bronze bell above the door dinged. I smirked and put the scarf back on its peg. _So he decided to come back huh?_ Before I could turn on my heels, a pair of arms wrapped around my midsection.

_Not again!_

I dropped all my weight. _No way am I almost getting kidnapped again_! Nothing happened. He was too strong. Panic flooded through me. Where was the shop keeper?! I'd been too busy browsing to notice the keeper wasn't behind the counter. I opened my mouth to scream, but a beefy hand clapped it shut. "Not a word, little pup! Not a word…" _What was with these guys!_ Without thinking about where his hand had been, I bit down on it, hard.

He yelped in pain and constricted his grasp on me, "Now listen here you little brat! I have orders to-"

"KISA!" The front door burst open and Jay stumbled in. Almost immediately, two more pirates were upon him. They must have been with pirate beefy hands; I'd failed to notice them until that moment. I tried to call out, but the man's grip stayed firm on my mouth and around my waist.

The two pirates running for Jay were about his height; the one running at him from my left had multiple long braided ponytails, while the one running at him from my right had his bowl-cut hair mostly hidden by a pirate hat. The braided ponytail pirate threw a punch. Jay leaned back; the punch sailed past his face. The pirate with the hat made a move to kick him in the back of head. Jay ducked and let the foot barely bush the tips of his hair. He stood up, grabbed ponytail pirate's wrist and the hat pirate's ankle – though by that point his hat had fallen off – and threw them both to the floor.

Hatless boy popped back up immediately. He put up his fists and danced on his toes, moving fast like an old timey boxer. "You can't catch me pretty boy! You can't catch me!" he taunted. Jay stood still, looking calm as he tracked his opponent with his eyes. Despite being restrained, I found myself mentally cheering. _Come on Jay! Knock him out!_

Without warning, that's what he did. He suddenly made a fist, drew it back, and landed his punch square in the pirate's jaw; all in no more than one second. Hatless guy dropped like a sack of potatoes.

I raised an eyebrow; _impressive._

Next, Ponytail boy sprang up. He wasted no time on fancy dancing; he made a tight fist and charged at Jay straight on. I would have thought he'd have learned his lesson the first time. Guess not. Jay reached up, grabbed his fist with one hand, his wrist with the other, spun him around and let him go with a kick to his backside, propelling him into a basket of secondhand scarfs.

The pirate sat in the basket for a second, stunned and confused as to how he'd gotten there. He struggled for a moment before coming to stand on his feet. The moment he stood up, Jay brought his foot up and kicked him across the face. He was down again, just like his pirate friend. I could practically see the cartoon stars dancing above their heads. I would have laughed had there not been a hand over my mouth and an arm around my waist.

Jay straightened up and brushed his coat off before walking towards us. His shoulders were back and he had a mean glint in his eye.

"Put her down," he ordered the pirate in a stern, pissed off voice.

My capturer chuckled and tightened his grip on my diaphragm, making it harder to breath, "I'd be more worried about yourself there boy!"

I'd been too busy studying Jay and worrying about the restriction on my diaphragm to notice the other two pirates in the room. They had been sitting motionlessly in a shadowy corner. Before either of us knew it, the two pirates appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Jay by the arms. He kicked and twisted and squirmed, but their grip stayed firm. The two were bigger height and muscle wise than the pirates who now lay unconscious on the floor. Jay couldn't get away.

"Let me go you sons of b-"

"Uh, uh, uh. Such naughty things to say to the man who's holding your girlfriend hostage."

_Girlfriend? Oh no, he did _not_ just say that! _

"She is not my girlfriend!" Jay yelled at the same time I attempted to shout, "He is not my boyfriend." Of course, mine sounded more like, "meph ifst mot muph mophant!" but I think everyone got the idea.

"Now, now; can't you two take a little joke? I was simply teasing." He was so calm; it was beginning to scare me. _What does this maniac have planned?!_ I worried.

"Look you crazy…" Jay bit off the swear word and paused before continuing, "We have friends who will be here any minute to rescue us!"

"That is highly doubtful."

"What do want us for anyway? What's your plan?"

A chuckle erupted from deep within his throat, I could feel it vibrate in his body, "Plans?!" he seemed amused, "why would I tell you my plans?!" he began to laugh.

Jay lost what little patience he had left, "Listen here you bloody pirate!" he yelled, this time adding a whole string of swear words onto the end. "You'd better let us go or-"

"Or what?" the man's voice darkened. His grip around me tightened so much, I found myself choking and gasping for air behind his hand. I was beginning to feel dizzy and lightheaded, "What could you do to the likes of me?"

Suddenly, I found myself being thrust into a wall of scarfs. I bonked my head against the wall and landed painfully on my wrist more likely than not spraining it. It took me a moment to gather my bearings. As I looked up at Jay and the pirates I coughed, trying to get my breathing back to normal. The SOB had nearly choked me to death! … _Wait a minute!_

Looking around, I grabbed the nearest cloth scarf I could find. Slowly and quietly I stood and neared the pirate who seemed to have forgotten about me. His back was turned and his face was in Jay's face. I folded the scarf in half, holding an end in each hand and stepped behind him.

"Boss, the girl!" One of pirates yelped, too late. I stood on tiptoes, slipped the scarf around his neck, crossed the ends and pulled.

The pirate arched back, his hands pulling helplessly at the scarf. The odds were in my favor now.

"Tell them to drop my friend over there." I ordered in a stern voice, "I'll choke you out and we'll leave either way, it's your choice. Your buddies can't take on both of us; I'm a mighty fine fighter." I was lying though my teeth, but he didn't know that.

"Drop … him …" he wheezed. It was then that I realized how tight I was holding the scarf. I neither tightened nor loosened my grip. The two pirates obliged and let Jay go free.

"Now where's the shop keeper?"

"In … back …"

"Alive?"

"Yes…"

"Good." I nodded my head slightly, "Now I want you and your friends here to leave and never bother us again. Comprehend?"

He said nothing. I tightened the scarf ever so slightly.

"Yes …" He choked out, knowing better than to try and nod.

"Try anything funny and we will hurt you." I threatened in almost as dark a voice as he had spoken in earlier, "Understand?"

"Yes …" he's voice was barely above a whisper. I let him go. The unconscious pirates were waking up; the conscious ones helped them hobble away.

Jay and I found the old shopkeeper tied up in the back of the store, right where the pirate said she would be. After untying her, she insisted we pick out something for saving her. Jay didn't want anything, so I made him help me pick something out.

"I don't care what you get!" he repeated for the fifth time, "what do you want?"

"I'm debating between a few." I pointed to the case which held a few necklaces and bracelets.

"I don't know!" he sighed, but looked at them anyway. "That one." He pointed to a necklace on the end; one I hadn't really looked at. It was simpler than most of the jewelry in the store, which I liked. It had a long chain that could be slipped over my head. The pendent was an oval with a smaller oval inside; between the two ovals were triangles in the shape of a starburst. Within the smaller oval was an indented outline of an angel. Her forearms were out and in her upturned palms was a heart. She wore a long dress and had wings on her back with a halo perched on her head.

_How did he know I love angels?_

The shop keeper would not accept any money from us and sent us away with the necklace. I ran my finger over the outline of the angel as we walked back to the ship. But my wrist kept pulsing in pain every time I moved it, and Jay kept a firm hold of my other hand, so I let the necklace be.

We made a silent agreement not to tell the others about the pirates, even if it was unusual to be attacked twice in the same day. _Why am I so set against telling them about the pirates?_ But I knew why; I wanted a chance to leave the ship, to stretch my legs and to see new places. I love new places!

The silence coupled with him refusing to let go of my wrist made me uncomfortable, so I tried to start some light conversation.

"That was pretty impressive back there. Where did you learn to fight like that?" I asked.

"You pick up some stuff here and there," he answered vaguely.

_Well, that was an engaging conversation, _I thought. I concluded I wouldn't get much out of him and just let him lead me back to the ship in silence.

When we boarded, I saw the others had just gotten back as well. Raphaelle walked over to us, "Hey guys, how was- oh my gosh! Kisa! Your head! What did you do?!"

I brought my hand up to my forehead and felt a bruise starting to form. I had bumped my head harder than I thought when the pirate threw me against the wall.

"And your wrist!" Raphaelle exclaimed.

I refocused my vision and looked at the hand in front of my face; I noticed that not only did my wrist hurt, but it was starting to bruise as well. I cursed myself for not noticing – though it was dark out – and tried to think on my feet.

"She tripped and fell down," Jay supplied, but there was hint of worry behind his voice. He turned to me, "I didn't realize you got hurt though!" He spoke through a clenched jaw, somehow managing to sound both angry and worried at the same time.

I saw a knowing look pass Raphaelle's face, "Well, why don't you bandage her wrist up for her, Jay?" she turned to leave but paused and looked over her shoulder to add, "The first aid kit is by the stairs in the bunk room."

"I know where it is!" he mumbled as he grabbed my good wrist and dragged me inside.

Ten minutes later, Jay and I sat alone in the bunk as he wrapped a bandage around my wrist. I had already put a band-aide on my forehead to hide the bruise. "You have to be more careful, Klutzy." He snorted.

"Yeah …" I whispered. I was lost in thought and totally not paying attention, "Thank you Jay … for everything tonight…"

"Yeah, whatever." He mumbled back, and for once I didn't get mad; I had too many other things on my mind.

"Jay …" I whispered. I had to face the truth at some point. If I waited any longer, I feared I might flip out in front of the crew, "I could have killed him tonight. Easily."

"Yeah, choking someone does have the potential to kill them." He wasn't taking me seriously! He thought I was kidding! I would never joke about something that horrible!

"No!" I clarified, distraught emotions spilling into my voice, "I mean I could have physically killed someone!" I looked up despite the fact that I could feel tears building up. He leaned forward. His eyes bore into mine; there was no sympathy in his expression, only seriousness.

"No Kisa. You could not have killed him." He stated it as if it were a fact. God I hoped it was.

"How do you know? …" My throat was tight from attempting to hold back tears; it made my voice crack painfully. I could feel the fresh tears coming on. _No! Do not cry! _I swallowed hard.

"Because you're so worked up about it now. Trust me, you could not have killed that bloody pirate. Knocked him out? Most likely. Killed him? Never. Understand?"

After a long moment of reflection, I managed a nod and a small, weak smile. "Thanks Jay."

He shrugged it off, stood and walked away. This time it ticked me off. _Man, that boy gets on my nerves!_ _Right when I think he's being nice, he walks away! And to think, I almost let myself cry in front of him!_ I stood and wiped my few stray tears away. _Whatever. It's not like I'll have to deal with him for much longer!_ Despite my best efforts, it was weird to think about not fighting with him anymore … I quickly pushed that feeling away when I realized we'd be swabbing the deck in the morning; or rather_ I'd_ be swabbing the deck in the morning.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**So I have a lot to say about this chapter. ****First off I liked it. Mainly because it shows a different side of Kisa and Jay for that manner too. For the record I would never attempt to chock someone in less my life (or someone else's) depended on it. (So basically if the events in this chapter (minus the pirates and the other dimension part) ever happened, I might chock someone - 'might' being the key word.)**

**I also liked the beginning, how Kisa (tried) to prove Jay wrong about her not being any fun. That just seemed like a classic teenage thing to do. **

**Oh! Speaking of being a teenager... I don't think I've mentioned this before but Kisa is 18 years old in this story. (I figured I should state it somewhere ...)**

**And Jay is still ... Jay. I know he could have done something so he was more of a jerk at the end but I figured walking away was just jerky enough to work and it's definitely in his character. **

**I love reviews so please leave one! (Pretty please with sugar on top!) You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa belongs to me **

******Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by ****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	7. Chapter 6

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Six

"You should all know what Silver warned us about." Jim stood before us a half an hour later; Morph stuck close to him, from time to time switching which shoulder he flouted over. We had just taken off in the ship again.

"The pirates are at large."

"What?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. I was not familiar with the "lingo" used on ships in this, or any, universe.

"There are a lot of them and they're all up to no good." Raphaelle, who stood by my side, bent over and whispered in my ear. Her long light red hair mixed with my short blonde; luckily I have a small personal bubble that I'm willing to share with my friends.

"Ohhh." I didn't care how dumb I sounded; we were all on the same page now. "Thanks." I whispered back.

"Anytime." As she straightened up I caught sight of a faint smile on her lips.

"Anyway, everyone keep an eye out and be careful." Jim continued, "No one, not even Silver, knows why they're acting the way they are."

"But Silver's a pirate himself," I pointed out, "so why is he out of the loop? Shouldn't he know what's going on?"

"The other pirates don't trust him anymore." Jim was so confident in his answers. I had taken notice that Raphaelle and their friends were confident as well. Self-confidence … that was something I did not have on most occasions.

"What did he do that was so bad? Last time I checked he was still high on the Pirate Wanted list." Jay commented.

"He befriended Raphaelle and me at Treasure Planet. On top of that, he helped us on numerous occasions as well."

"So … where is he?" I looked around; I hadn't seen him anywhere since Jay and I left to look around town. That didn't mean a thing though, he could have been anywhere.

"He slipped off somewhere." Jim answered, "Amelia won't arrest him, but just about everyone else will. He has to lie low to stay out of prison."

I shrugged; it made as much sense as anything else.

* * *

"Tomorrow's the one week mark!"

"AH!" I screamed, falling back on my butt. Nerita was hanging upside down by her knees from the shrouds, her arms crossed over her chest, a grin stretching across her face. I had been standing on deck leaning against the shrouds, not paying attention, when she had appeared out of nowhere, scaring me. "Shi-oooots and ladders! Don't do that!"

She snorted, "Nice save." Nerita laughed with a winked, "Anyways, I was just warning you. Tomorrow's the one week mark."

"So?" I mumbled.

"So," she replied as she pulled herself up, unhooked her legs, pushed off, flipped backwards in midair and landed next to me. The scaly girl reached down and pulled me to my feet, "it takes a week to get to where we're going."

"Yeah, I know." Then it hit me, "Oh … so we'll … arrive tomorrow?" It was a dumb question, but nevertheless, it came out of my mouth.

"Yep." We stood in silence for a moment. I hadn't gotten to know the crew very well over the past week, but I still knew I would miss them.

Later that night, I sat at the table organizing the silverware when a hand brushed my hair. My head shot up. Raphaelle kept walking on. "Come on," She beckoned.

"Where to?" I ask as I stood and followed her without getting an answer. I didn't need one anyway; I mean, this is Raphaelle after all.

She had disappeared down the steps to the launch bay before calling up her answer, "I just want to show you something!"

"Show me what?!" I scampered down the stairs after her, "Come on Ariel-" I stopped mid-sentence.

Raphaelle was standing next to a longboat as she opened the bay doors. "Shall we?" she nodded her head sideways at the boat.

I couldn't help but grin, "We shall m' lady, we shall!" I jumped aboard.

Once we were sitting in the boat – still tethered to the ship – my best friend pulled a mug and two coffee cups out from under her seat. She poured the dark and steaming liquid into a cup and offered it to me; hesitantly, I took it in both hands. She poured herself a cup, trying not to smile, "It won't bite Kisa!" she finally laughed.

"You know I don't drink coffee!"

"Yes, and I still think you're weird for that, but who said it was coffee?"

"I am weird!" I laughed, "I take that as a compliment!" But she hadn't said anything about coffee. It didn't smell like coffee either … I could feel my face grow hot from embarrassment as I blew on the contents of the mug and took a sip of the hot chocolate she'd poured me. "_Wunderbar_." I whispered with a smile.

"What?" her face wrinkled in confusion.

I smiled, "Wonderful. It's German for wonderful."

"Ah, German. You mentioned wanting to take that once…or twice…or three times." She was sitting forward so her elbows rested on her knees and her mug stayed in front of her face. She was grinning over the steam of her coco. "Say something else."

"Okay …" I paused. I hated that question; it was just so vague! Finally I thought of something, "_Erinnerst du dich noch an Mardas zwölften Geburtstag? Ah, wir hatten alle viel Spaß!_" I smiled.

Raphaelle looked at me for a moment before bursting out in laughter, "Okay! Okay, okay, okay! What?! I can't even begin to guess! All I understood was Marda!"

"_Aber, du hast_-"

"Kisa!"

"Alright, alright! I said, 'do you remember Marda's twelfth birthday? Ah, we all had so much fun!' and then I started to say, 'but you said to only speak in German' but-"

"When did I say that?!" she asked with a mixture of amusement and annoyance.

"I don't know," I shrugged, "Must have been in my head. Anyway, as I was saying, all I got out was 'but you' and the first part of 'said' in past tense. See there are two kinds of past tense-"

"Stop!" Raphaelle held up a hand, "to answer your question, yes, I do remember her birthday."

I started laughing, "Remember when we girls snuck up on Rebel and dumped ice down his back!" Rebel was my adopted older brother. His real name is Ron, but we all called him Rebel because of his rebellious nature.

"Yeah! And he yelled at us, so we just pointed to Marda who just stood there and said 'What? I'm just a little blind girl who was standing here innocently, trying to enjoy my party. How am I supposed to know what's going on?'" We laughed at the memory and tried not to spill our coco.

"And she pulled two water balloons out from behind her back and hit us both square in the head!" I almost yelled, "Man! That girl has better aim then I do!"

"And the whole ordeal turned into a massive water balloon fight! With just four people!" By this point we had set our mugs down so we could clutch our stomachs from laughter. From a third person's point-of-view, it probably wasn't that funny, but in our eyes … well our actions spoke louder than words.

"Oh!" Raphaelle sat up after a full minute of laughter and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, "oh that was something!" Then we were at it again, bringing up joyous memories from our past.

After a good half hour of reminiscing and finishing our cups of hot coco, my strawberry blond friend looked at me and asked, "Why don't we take this thing for a spin?" She patted the side of the boat.

I looked her in the eyes, grinned from ear to ear and said, "_los gehen_! Let's go!"

I had never seen anything so vast and beautiful in my life, and I've been hiking in the mountains in Europe. Raphaelle didn't try any tricks or stunts, but she did steer us straight for a comet tail and tossed a small glass bottle my way. Somehow it landed in my hands – hand-eye coordination is not my friend – and told me to open it. I did and as soon as we were in the tail I understood what the bottle was for; I held it up and let the comet dust flow inside.

"I still have my bottle of comet dust from when we went to Treasure Planet," she told me later as we neared the ship, "I thought you might like some of your own since I know how easily shiny objects distract you." she grinned and winked at me.

"I'm sorry, what?" I looked up at her, blinking innocently, "I was distracted by this bottle of tiny shiny sparkles." Try as I might, I couldn't keep a straight face. Soon we were both doubled over in laughter again.

We were still laughing when we pulled the lifeboat into the ship and made our way upstairs. Jim and Jay were seated at a table leaning over a game of what I assumed to be this universe's version of chess. They gave us confused looks, but we simply shook our heads and walked on; they wouldn't understand.

That night I went to bed smiling at new and old memories with Raphaelle; and with painfully worked abs.

* * *

The next morning I stood against the ship's railing, my bags at my feet. We were nearing the planet that would take me home. _Home … I'm going home … So why am I mellow?_

"Yo!"

I jumped, my heart hammered in my chest. Craning my neck up, I found Jay sitting in the crow's nest above, pointing to the front of the ship. "Planet ho!" My stomach flipped; we were here. _Why am I suddenly getting so nervous? _

Raphaelle appeared of nowhere to stand next to me, "Ah!" I flinched, "what is it with you people lately?!" I snapped. _Stop it Kisa. It's your last day here, don't be a bitch._

"What?" she asked.

"Coming out of nowhere and scaring me! That makes it, what? Three in less than twenty-four hours?" I took a deep breath to calm down, "Sorry I guess I'm just jumpy today."

"Today?" I spun around to find the whole crew – even Jay had scrambled down from the crow's nest – standing behind me. Apparently they knew me better than I thought. Morph turned into me and began playing back all of the times I'd fallen, tripped, or made a fool of myself. I just rolled my eyes and ignored him.

"Oh y'all know what I mean!" Despite being crabby, I had to try not to smile.

"Y'all?" Raphaelle's eyebrows shot up and she chuckled, "You're not southern. Since when do you say 'y'all'?"

I shrugged, "I dunno…"

"Come on," Jim reached for his wife's hand. Raphaelle put her arm around my shoulders and we made our way across the deck, "let's go check it out."

As we stepped foot on the barren and seemingly lifeless planet, Iris stepped up, "We planned a picnic for lunch." She smiled.

"Yeah! We have it all right here!" Angela held up her side the basket both her and Gabriel had ahold of between them; I suspected the others had picnic baskets as well. One little basket would not feed us all. "Raphaelle helped make it so it should be good!"

I smiled, "You and your picnic's Ariel!"

"Oh shut up!" she playfully pushed me aside and we both laughed. But it wasn't a laugh like the night before; there was no heart behind it. It was as if we were about to part ways, and we were about ready to burst into tears; both of which were facts.

Or were they? …

We came up to what looked to be Stonehenge. Or what I assume was supposed to look like Stonehenge. Now it looked like a pile of rubble, as if someone had dropped a bomb on it. We all stopped in our tacks and gawked.

"It's … it's …" Iris whispered.

"Destroyed," I finished, mumbling in horror. _I'm not getting home!_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Dun dun duuuuuunnnnn! **

**What's going to happen next!? What will Kisa do?! Will she ever get home?! Why is she typing out all of these questions?! (Just some questioned I'd figure are running through your head. And yes, before you ask I am a mind read, very good! Haha, jk! xD )Well you'll have to read on to find out these answers! Well the first three answers anyway... (I'll post the next chapter in an hour or so - depending on what happens at my house - so don't worry I won't leave you hanging long.) **

**Oh and as you've noticed, I'm sure, I will randomly have some language in here. Sorry 'bout that but that's just how I write. (I don't swear a lot (out loud) in real life and I find it annoying when people swear ever other word ... but I do swear so that's usually how my characters are too.)**

**Oh and last chapter is about as dark as this story gets, just a heads up. I forgot to mention that last chapter and I'm too lazy to go back and fix it, hence me telling you here. **

**Anyway, Deutsch! Ich liebe Deutsch! (German! I love German!) As you can probably tell ... What's funny is we just had company (before I posted this) and they know German! It's funny 'cause it was mom and her two little kids and she'll speak to them in German a lot and half the time I can understand what she's saying. Everyone else is like "..." and I'm chuckling. ^-^ Not that y'all care buuuut thought it was a funny coincidence or whatever. xD Oh and I'm not as good as Kisa at German! With the help of an online dictionary and my German exchange student I was able to say what I wanted correctly. **

**Oh and like Kisa I do not (underline not!) like coffee! ... It's okay if you disagree but I just think it's gross! Dx**

**Soooo ... yeah I think that's it for this chapter. :)**

**I love reviews so please leave one! (Bitte, bitte, bitte! - Please, please, please!) You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Reble, and Marda belong to me **

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by ****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	8. Chapter 7

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Seven

"How am I going to get home now?!" I moaned after a moment of shocked silence. Slowly I sank down until I was sitting on the hard gravel covered ground. _I'm never going to get home! I'm never going to see my family again! I'm-_

A pair of arms wrapped around my shoulders, bringing me into a hug. Tears began to fall from my face; I quickly wiped them away with the back of my hand. Raphaelle just continued to sit next to me, holding me in a hug. I tucked my legs to my chest and dropped my head onto my knees. Morph rubbed up against my hair, no doubt trying to lift my spirits. I sat there and did nothing, I didn't cry or scream, they only thing I felt was the horrible feeling that I'd never see my home again.

No one moved for minutes, but to me it felt like hours. I was about to stand up and scream 'Do something! Don't just stand there!' but I couldn't move; I was too shocked by the turn of events. Finally I heard the crunch of gravel; I looked up to find Austin walking over to the ruins. He stooped down, picked up a piece rubble the size of his head, and examined it thoroughly. Then he set it down, picked up another piece from another pile and examined that one as well. He continued to move though each pile examining a piece from each one.

"You know," he said to no one in particular, "there are markings on all of these … I wonder …" He began to hold together pieces from the same pile. Austin finally looked at the rest of us, "Um, little help here guys?" he asked.

Jim, Jay, Gabriel, Nerita, Jennifer, and Adelaide were the first to move; Raphaelle, Angela, and Iris followed shortly after. Even Morph hovered over to the rubble though he wasn't much help. All he could do was hover around and pick up the smallest pieces of rock. I continued to sit there; finally I stood up and walked over to the ruins. I plopped down on a rock next to one of the piles, crossed my legs, put my elbows on my knees, and rested my chin in my hands.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked. My voice was weak and quiet.

"I'm going to see if I can get you home." Austin answered.

"Really?" I sat up straight in surprise, "You'll do that? For me?"

"Why are you so surprised?" he asked, turning to look me in the eyes, "You want to go home and it's the right thing to do."

I smiled, "Thank you. Thank you very much, Austin." I jumped up, slid down the rock, and began helping piece together the ruins.

* * *

"Klutzy, wake up!" Strong hands grasped my shoulders and gave them a shake, "Up!"

"Ugh! What time is it?" I glanced up through partly opened eyes. Jay stood over me, his sandy blond hair hanging down in his face. I hadn't noticed it before, but in this lighting he looked kind of … cute. Oh God! I did _not_ just think that! I was more tired than I thought!

"It's midnight. Come on." He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. "It's time to get back to the ship." Jay took my forearm in his hand and led me back to the ship. Looking over I saw the others had set up big spot lights around the ruins so they could continue working.

"Do you think Austin can really fix that thing?" I asked.

"I'm sure he can."

"How do you know that?"

"Jim believes he can. No, Jim knows he can and believes in him. If Jim believes in someone they can do anything."

"Are you bro-crushing on him or what?" I teased, "You do know he's married right?" He glared at me, "Okay jeez! I was kidding! Take a joke will ya!" I snapped. I thought the sarcasm in my voice had been obvious.

"Oh … is that an Earth joke?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Ah …"

We walked in silence until we got back to _The Journey_. In truth, the planet gave me the creeps in the daylight, but at night … I didn't want to be alone. Once we climbed aboard, the two of us stood on deck; the gray clouds covered the starry night sky.

"Are you going back to help?" I asked.

"Yeah it's still my shift. I took a break to walk you back."

"You know, when Jim suggested we work in shifts I didn't realize we were coming back to the ship."

"The girls thought it would be nice to sleep on actual mattresses, but you were already out cold, and they didn't want to wake you. _They_ said you looked too peaceful."

"The girls?" I questioned, "So whose back here?"

"Raphaelle, Iris, and Jennifer."

"Cool. I'll see you later then. Night." I turned to leave but he grabbed my upper arm, "What?" I asked turning back to face him, an annoyed look on my face.

"I …" the look on his face, I couldn't quite place it, but it seemed like he was … lost. But he shook his head and the lost look in his eyes was gone. "Nothing," he mumbled, letting go of my arm and not looking me in the eye. "Nothing. Just um... Good night, Kisa. Sweet dreams."

I blinked, "Um, thanks. You too Jay, you too." I gave him a smile, "G'night." With a small wave I descended the stairs to where the crew sleeps. I expected to find Iris and Jennifer curled up on their cots; I didn't find them. They weren't anywhere in the sleeping quarters. _Where are they?_

I threw on my PJs and my boots before I ran across the deck (I don't like being outside, alone, in the dark) to the captain's quarters. I stuck my head inside and found Raphaelle, Iris and Jennifer sitting on the bed.

"Kisa!" Jennifer exclaimed, she patted the bed next to her, "Come on in! When did you get back?"

"Jay just walked me back …" I took note of the look that passed between their faces. I didn't know what the look was about, but I did not like it! I climbed up on the bed between Raphaelle and Jen. "Sooo …" I started, "What's up?"

"We were just reminiscing about our time in the Academy." Raphaelle answered.

"Ah… Well I'm going to go curl up in that corner. I'm beat."

"You feel asleep on the hard ground; we could have told you that!" Iris said.

"Sarcasm … that's new from you Iris." I raised my eyebrows at her.

The half Mutator Formarum, who was sporting a pinkish hair color, grinned. I couldn't help myself; I laughed. Hard. I'm not sure what was so funny; being tired does strange things to me. I'm either incredibly happy and laughing (a lot), or I'm a complete pain in the ass. (Pardon my French.)

The other three looked wiped as well, so we decided to hit the hay. Jennifer curled up on the floor in a pile of blankets, Iris was small and petit enough to be comfortable on the small coach in the room, and Raphaelle and I shared the bed.

As I crawled under the covers, I heard Jennifer mumble something along the lines of, 'Are you sure it's okay for her to sleep in that bed, Raphaelle? I mean nothing's happened there right? You haven't been having too much fun with Jim have you?' There was a sly tone to her voice. Raphaelle threw a pillow at her head. Iris and I laughed. The other two joined in a moment later. Unfortunately, once we started laughing we couldn't stop for a good ten minutes, and it wasn't even that funny! What is it about being tired that makes everything so hilarious?

"We used to have sleepovers and we stay up and talk in the dark about anything and everything. Remember that?" Raphaelle whispered to me in dark; we were lying on our sides facing one another. Iris and Jennifer could be heard breathing deeply and slowly in their sleep.

"Course I do. We'd talk about life and about your huge crush on Jim." I smirked at her even though she couldn't see me. "It's funny, I used to tease you about that, but now look at us. You're married to him and I have no boyfriend … funny how the world works."

She laughed, "yeah … that was back when our biggest issues were acne …"

I snorted, "Hello? Have you seen my face?" I motioned to it even though it was pitch black and neither of us could see a thing, "That's still one of my biggest issues!" I exclaimed.

She kicked me under the blankets, "It's not that bad! You have a pretty face and you know it!" She had a point, my acne used to be much worse. Still … "Although, I'm glad my issues are bigger now. I love my life. And my husband." I could hear the dreamy smile in her voice.

"Well I'd hope so!" She kicked me again, "Alright I'll stop, I'll stop…" We laid in silence for a moment.

"Well, G'night Melody. Sweet dreams."

"G'night Ariel. Sleep tight."

We both rolled over and within minutes we were fast asleep.

* * *

"I can remake it!" The door to the cabin flow open.

"AH!" The four of us shot up in surprise from where we had been sleeping. Austin and Jim burst through the door, both grinning from ear to ear.

"You can … do what now?" I gasped placing a hand on my chest, trying to slow my heart rate.

"I can fix the mechanism! I can get you home!"

"What?! Really!" I sat up on my knees and began bouncing up and down, "When will it be ready?!"

His grin faded. "That's the thing … I don't know. But I do know that I can make it smaller, I'll have to. We're going to head back to the Inn, I'll make it there."

"So long as I can make it back home sometime soon, then I guess I can wait." I told him, "Oh and Austin?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"No problemo Kisa, no problemo."

* * *

"We're just stopping here for the day to get some supplies for the trip back and the device Austin's making." Jim informed us as the crew filed off the ship. We were back on the market planet, and to tell the truth, I did not want to get off; I'd had enough pirate run-ins to last me a life time.

"Um, can I stay on the ship?" I asked.

"Um … sure." He looked over at his wife; she shrugged, "But why?"

"Oh um … I uh…" I hadn't thought through the 'why' part. I was just making up an excuse on the fly.

"We saw enough of the planet last time. Stalls and aliens. Way too many aliens on one little planet, it almost makes one claustrophobic." Jay covered for me, "I'm going to stay as well. I'm not a people person. And besides, who knows what'll happen if we leave her alone on the ship for too long," he jammed his thumb in my direction.

"Hey!" I snapped. What, did he think I'd burn the ship down or something? I'm not a pyromaniac!

Jim and Raphaelle looked at each other. If they suspected anything, they didn't let it show. "Alright. Just don't kill each other. We'll be back in a few hours and we'll bring some dinner with us." With that, they all left. I saw Morph slip into Jim pocket just before he walked off the ship.

I turned to Jay, "Um thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome, I guess." He turned and walked away. I wrinkled my brows in confusion. _What is up with this boy lately? It's almost like he's being …_ I didn't finish the thought; why bother?

An hour later, I was swabbing the upper deck. Yes, I was so bored I was swabbing! _What is this world coming to, Kisa?!_

I splashed the last inch of water onto the deck, mopped it around, picked up the bucket and made my way to the stairs. I placed my foot on the first step and it flew out from under me. I had failed to take notice that when I had been mopping water, it had splashed down the steps, making them slippery. I squeezed my eyes shut; _this is going to hurt!_

Nothing. I opened one eye, I wasn't falling. I opened the other.

"Careful."

I turned my head; Jay had caught me under both armpits, and he'd told me to be careful without adding 'Klutzy' or using a sarcastic tone.

He started to pick me up and carry me bridal style. "What are you doing?" I asked in in confusion, struggling a little bit.

"Just relax," he said with barely any traces of annoyance in his voice. He carried me down the stairs and set me down on the main deck. I stepped away and stared at him with confusion and suspicion.

"Don't want you to have to go home with any broken bones," He shrugged. Again, there wasn't a single ounce of sarcasm in his voice.

With that, he just walked away, his hands in his pocket, acting as if nothing weird had just happened.

I let my brain finish my earlier thought. _He is being nice… But … why?_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**So Austin will find a way to get her home! Yay, Austin! :D PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid suggest that by the way (the portal braking and Austin finding a way to fix it) and I loved it! ^-^**

**I really like the end of this chapter, when Jay and Kisa are alone on the ship. Testing gravity is my specialty! (What?! *Looks away while chewing on inner cheek.* Someone has to make sure it's working ...) So I decided that Kisa should try it. xD **

**I like writing about Kisa and Jay! It's quit fun! :3 I hope you guys like read about them as well! **

**Well I don't have much more to say about this chapter ... I'm going to upload chapter eight later as well. Mainly because I like chapter eight, it has singing! :D **

**I love reviews so please leave one! (Don't make me beg with puppy-dog eyes!) You can critique my work as well but please no flames.**

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, and Marda belong to me**

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	9. Chapter 8

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Eight

Needless to say, Sara, BEN and the Doppler's were very surprised to see me again. They had assumed I would be home safe and sound; to be honest, I had hoped to be home as well.

"Kisa?! What are – I mean, why are you here Sweetie?" Sara asked, confusion and worry written on her face. I looked at the newlyweds; we decided before returning we would have to tell Sara the truth.

Sighing, I turned back to Mrs. Hawkins, "it's kind of a long story…"

Later that night, Raphaelle and I sat down with Sara, Amelia and Delbert – we excluded BEN because, as much as we loved him, that robot could not keep a secret if his life depended on it – and told them everything; about where we came from, how we got there, the whole nine yards.

"So in your world we're … characters? In-in a movie?!" Sara stared at us, bewildered.

"Kind of?" I answered slouching back down in my chair. By that point, I was sitting on my lower back; try as I might, I could not find a way to hide behind my short blond hair.

"Kisa made a good point once; us being here doesn't change the plot of the movie … her theory is that our-I mean your-I mean … _here_ is like another dimension."

"Or something like that**…**" I added quickly, "but it's just a theory…"

"Don't say 'just'. It downgrades your opinion." Amelia spoke up for the first time; I looked at her for a moment before simply nodding.

At first, they found it hard to believe, but slowly they began to understand and accept it. Both Raphaelle and I were shocked and overjoyed at how well everyone had taken the news. No one was overly pissed off at us; it really surprised both of us.

Delbert set Austin up with the equipment from his lab back home under one condition; he was to help Austin and be his assistant. While they tinkered away at the device to get me home, Raphaelle began singing in the evenings at the Inn. I always made sure I was around for that; I missed her singing voice! She used to sing all the time at the orphanage and at my home. We use to put on mini concerts for the other children and for my family when we were young.

I especially loved when Jim or Angela would sing with her. It was so cute to see a husband and wife sing a duet, and Angela had such a heavenly voice. I wondered if it was because she was an angel-like creature or if it was just luck of the draw.

Unfortunately, there was a downside to the week: the weather. The day after we'd gotten back to the Inn it began raining. It continued to rain and rain and rain … did I mention it rained? Talk about depressing.

"I'm so bored!" BEN yelled, throwing his skinny metal arms up into the air, "it's been raining for three days straight!"

The rest of us were as bored as BEN. When we he hadn't been helping with the Inn, we'd exhausted every card and board game Sara had. Morph was moping around as well. The only ones who weren't bored were Austin and Delbert. They were so busy building the device to get me home; I was beginning to wonder if they'd slept a wink in the past four days.

I was slouched on a window seat resting my head on my folded arms, staring at the rain when I got an amazing idea. "Guys!" I jumped up and spun to face everyone. Austin was there taking a break for a bit for lunch, Angela and BEN had been playing tick-tack-toe, and Jim and Jay were sitting on the other side of the table playing chess again. "Let's go dance in the rain!" I nearly squealed, "That should temporarily cure our boredom!"

They looked at each other, then back at me. The excitement rising in me made me bounce on my toes, but they were simply sitting and watching me. They were as calm as could be.

I heard the running feet before the door flung open. Raphaelle burst in, "I heard 'dancing' and 'in the rain'!" her face was lit with the same excitement I felt. "Let's go!"

"See!" I gestured to her, "I'm not crazy!" I paused, "actually I am crazy. I'm just not the only crazy one!"

She giggled, "Come on!" We raced each other outside.

The summer rain was warm; it pressed down my hair and soaked into my skin. The rain felt amazing! I laughed and jumped into a muddy puddle, polka-doting my legs in brown. I grabbed my best friend's hands and we ran in a circle until we were dizzy; laughing, we plopped down on the muddy ground trying to regain our balance. Within a minute we sprung back up and were dancing again.

Raphaelle spread her arms wide, threw her head back and slowly bouncing in a circle; a classic dancing-in-the-rain pose. The long, baggy sleeves of her shirt were saturated; her arms were like wings that would carry her anywhere.

Out of nowhere, Jim stepped up behind his wife. He gently took her forearms in his hands; she raised her arms and turned so they stood face to face, their arms raised and crossed over their heads. He let go of his wife's arms and they slowly lowered their arms so hers were around his neck and his were around her waist. The married couple began to slow dance in the rain without music. (It was so adorable!)

As they leaned in to kiss, an elbow bumped my side; my whole body jerked. I turned to find Jay standing next to me. It wasn't until then that I realized I had stopped dancing to watch my friend.

"Come on," he held out his hand. I hesitated and stared at his hand suspiciously. "Come on, Keys!" he pressed, actually smiling. I took his hand cautiously. He pulled my arm in, pivoting me sidewise, while grabbing the other one; he alternated pulling my left arm in then my right, we shifted our hips, half spinning. I laughed when he spun me around and pulled me back in to our swing dance.

The others must have joined us at some point because before I knew it I was chasing Iris, Jennifer and Austin as we slipped and slid around the muddy yard.

Finally we tromped back inside, soaked, muddy, and cold. Sara, who had watched us from the window for the longest time before coming out and standing in rain herself, had mugs of hot coco steaming and ready for us. Along with towels and buckets of hot water we could stick our feet in while we took turns with the showers.

"I didn't think you could dance, Jay," I commented, looking his way.

"To be honest, I was surprised that you didn't slip and fall, Klutzy," he teased.

I stuck my tongue out at him, but he just gave me an amused smile and shook his head, sending muddy water droplets onto the floor around him.

When it was my turn, I stood in the warm shower for some time before reaching for the shampoo. I was so giddy from the rain that I found myself singing. In the back of my brain I figured with the water and the fan running, along with everyone being downstairs, that no one would hear me. I opened my mouth and sang the chorus to _'Why should I worry'_ one of my favorite Disney songs.

_"Why should I worry?_

_Why should I care?_

_I may not have a dime_

_But I got street savior fair!_

_Why should I worry?_

_Why should I care?_

_It's just a dooboplation_

_And I got street savior fair!"_

"Wow, Kisa! You're voice has really improved! You sound amazing!"

I jumped ten feet in the air, "Jeez Raphaelle! Scare me much?!" I cried; placing my hand over my chest, I could feel my racing heart. She couldn't see me thanks to the shower curtain, but that meant I couldn't see her either and I had been too engrossed in singing to hear the door open and close.

"Sing something else!" she ignored my comment.

After much prompting on her part, I did, mainly for her entertainment (and to shut her up). She applauded when I was through singing as I stepped out of the shower wrapped in a towel. I gave her a small curtsy; we laughed.

"You should sing with me at the Inn some night." She said it so casually I had to re-run what she had said again through my brain.

I studied her for moment trying to see if she was serious. She was. "_What?!_" I finally managed to squeak out.

"Sing. With. Me." She ordered, "Please?"

"You're insane." I stated before drying off and pulling on my pajamas. She stood leaning against the door with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You're good. Really good. We could sing a duet."

"You are-" I stopped midsentence, "a duet?" That peeked my curiosity.

"Yeah. Pick a song, preferably one I knew."

"_For a Moment."_ I suggested.

She smiled; _'For a Moment'_ had been our duet for years, since the Orphanage. "You should sing something by yourself too, like _'Colors of the Wind'_ maybe?" she winked at me. She knew it was one of my favorite Disney songs.

"How about we sing our duet and you sing _'Colors of the Wind'_ in," she paused to think, "two days."

"Two-" I nearly choked on my own saliva, "two days?!" I snorted, "Sweetheart, you have officially lost your mind! I have bad stage fright! I open my mouth and my voice comes out all squeaky and-and-"

"And you'll be fine!" she assured me, "the dining area isn't that big. Plus, you just sang in front of eleven people."

"It is to a big ro- wait, what?! What do you mean I just sang in front of eleven people?!"

The strawberry blonde stood and pulled open the bathroom door; the crew, her husband, BEN, Mrs. Hawkins and Jay stood in the hall. Even Morph was there, which I guess would make it twelve people. I shot her a dirty look, "You are an evil person Raphaelle Hawkins! …"

* * *

"Alright let's see how you look!" Raphaelle slipped into my room. It had taken an hour, but everyone had finally convinced me to sing. (It involved a lot of begging and me almost getting tied to a chair – long story.) So there I was, putting the final touches on my makeup. My stomach was in a million knots, my palms were so sweaty I could barely hold the mascara brush, and my heart was pitter-pattering twice as fast as usual. _If I live through tonight I'm going to hurt them all!_

I set the mascara down, turned to show her, and found my eyes popping out of my head, "Woah!" I breathed, "Love the dress!"

Her dress was strapless, blue, and it fell to her feet. It was dark on the top – in fact the top inch had a black ribbon around it – and the blue progressively got lighter as the dress went on. The middle of the skirt was light blue and from there it grew darker once again. The bottom and the top were almost the same color. The bust had sparkly black swirls around it while the rest of the dress had silver sparkly swirls. She wore black peep toe high heels and her strawberry blond hair was curled into tight ringlets.

I, on the other hand, was wearing my blue halter top, floor length dress Sara had bought for me. My makeup, like Raphaelle's, was lightly applied and my short blond hair was pulled, pinned and hair-sprayed back in place. It was slightly bumped up on top of my head; a chunk of my hair in front was pulled across my forehead and pinned behind my ear. Angela had used almost a whole can of hairspray on it; I wouldn't have to worry about it falling out halfway through the night.

She pulled me over to the full body mirror so we could see what we looked like next to each other. Raphaelle let out a low whistle, "Wow, we like beautiful!" Even I had to admit to that, and I'm not normally a girl to admire my looks.

"Come on!" she linked my arm in hers and we made our way out into the hall and down the stairs. The dining hall was packed full; there were even people standing in the back! I let a string of swear words run through my mind. I hate when people stare at me. Being the center of attention? Yeah, as you know it is not my thing.

"Raphaelle," I hissed, "I can't do this! I can_not_ do this!"

"Relax Kisa! You'll do great." She smiled reassuringly at me before dragging me up on stage. My heart was pounding so hard right then; I knew they could hear it in the back row. I was so nervous I barely heard Raphaelle make the introduction. Even moments later I couldn't relay what she had said.

Then, as the crowd applauded and the band strummed up, something came to me from the back of my mind. An old memory buried deep in my subconscious; a memory of Raphaelle and me singing with the other orphanage kids. We had so much fun on those days … fun … Maybe I could do this.

I was up first; I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. _I can do this, I can do this!_ Lucky the first half of the verse was more talk-singing then actual singing. I opened my mouth and let the lyrics spill out:

_"Okay, get a grip, get a hang of this flipper_

_It's like slipping two feet into one big huge slipper_

_This way is left, which way is right_

_OH, now I'll be circling in circles all night_

_Oh, so this is forward. No problem._

Now it was time to sing. I prayed my voice would come out clean and not pitchy.

_I can't believe I can do this and more_

_To swim in the sea like I walk on the shore_

_Out of my shell, not closed up like a clam_

_Look out sea, this is me, here I am_

_For a moment all of me_

_Is alive and at home in the sea_

_I'm swirling and twirling, so graceful and grand_

_Not stubbing my toes getting stuck in the sand_

_For a moment life is cool_

_I'm a splash in the world's biggest pool_

_This is more than my thoughts ever thought it could be_

_For a moment, just a moment, lucky me!"_

Raphaelle's part came up:

_"If only for one moment_

_I had shared with you all I know_

_The Sea wouldn't be a mystery_

_oh, why did you have to go?"_

Once again I sang, but this time I put more heart behind it. My nerves had begun to melt away; it was like we were little kids again just singing to have fun.

_"Everything's newer and brighter and bluer_

_And truer to life than before_

_Watch me soar_

_For a moment I can shine_

_Got a grin and a fin, that works fine_

_My fingers are wrinkly, and I really don't care_

_If all my curls have curled out of my hair_

_For a moment I can feel_

_All the dreams I've been dreaming are real_

_Wish my mother could hear it, the sea is my song_

_For a moment, just a moment, I belong!"_

I held the note out so our voices overlapped; Raphaelle sounded wonderful as she took over once again:

_"I will find you my darling_

_And the moment that I do_

_I'll hold you close, my Melody_

_And sing the song of the sea with you_

_And sing the song of the sea with you!"_

We ended the song together; our voices meshing together as we belted out the last notes:

_"For a moment, just a moment, I belong!"_

The crowd erupted with applause. I looked at Raphaelle, she looked at me, and both of us laughed; we hadn't sung like that since … well we'd never sung like that before! I felt amazing!

Now it was my turn; time to sing with all my heart. Raphaelle walked off the stage, and the band strummed up and stood at the ready, not playing; I began to sing a cappella.

_"You think I'm an ignorant savage_

_And you've been so many places_

_I guess it must be so_

_But still I cannot see_

_If the savage one is me_

_How can there be so much that you don't know?_

_You don't know ..."_

The band picked up and I began singing; I started out softer and my voice grew as the song played on:

_"You think you own whatever land you land on_

_The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim_

_But I know every rock and tree and creature_

_Has a life, has a spirit, has a name_

_You think the only people who are people_

_Are the people who look and think like you_

_But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger_

_You'll learn things you never knew you never knew_

_Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?_

_Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?_

_Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains?_

_Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?_

_Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?_

_Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest_

_Come taste the sun sweet berries of the Earth_

_Come roll in all the riches all around you_

_And for once, never wonder what they're worth_

_The rainstorm and the river are my brothers_

_The heron and the otter are my friends_

_And we are all connected to each other_

_In a circle, in a hoop that never ends_

_How high will the sycamore grow?_

_If you cut it down, then you'll never know_

_And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon_

_For whether we are white or copper skinned_

_We need to sing with all the voices of the mountains_

_We need to paint with all the colors of the wind_

_You can own the Earth and still_

_All you'll own is Earth until_

_You can paint with all the colors of the wind."_

After the last word crossed my lips, the crowded stayed silent for a moment. I was beginning to believe I hadn't sung well when they all stood up and cheered while they clapped. That was my first standing ovation ever!

Unknown to me, my night was about to get interesting.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I told you there would be singing! :) (Just saying, I doubt I could sing well in front of others especially that many other people ... But hey I've never tried so if I could that would be sweet!) I absolutely love _Colors of the Wind; _it has to be one of my favorite Disney songs!**

**I loved the scene where everyone was dancing in the rain. (I loved this chapter as a whole but I really loved the dancing in the rain part.) I've only danced in the rain once with a couple of friends but I loved it! I figured everyone in the story would love it as well! On a side note I'm going to try and draw the picture of Raphaelle with her arms out dancing in the rain but I'm not sure how that'll go ... Wish me luck! (I'll put a link on my profile page to it if it does turn out.)**

**Check out my deviantART for pictures of Kisa's dress (which is my Prom dress) and PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid's for Raphaelle's dress. (Her deviantART username is MermaidGirlForver - it's her choir dress).**

**I love reviews so please leave one! You can critique my work as well but please no flames.**

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. along with the songs belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda belong to me.**

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	10. Chapter 9

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Nine

My brain was on overload. So many people were talking to me and complimenting me on my voice that I couldn't keep track of who was who and who said what. Finally Raphaelle took pity on me. I was talking to an alien woman who resembled a frog and her young daughter when my friend strolled up behind me.

"If you don't mind ma'am," she placed her hands on my shoulders, "I have to steal my friend here. Is that alright?"

"Oh but of course dear! What a wonderful job you two did tonight!" We thanked her before making a beeline for the kitchen. My throat was begging for a glass of water and my ears were ringing from all the noise.

I was hoping for some peace and quiet, but unfortunately for me, the gang was chilling in the kitchen ready to pounce. I'm fairly certain they were complimenting the two of us, but I heard none of it; I simply nodded and gulped down a glass of water in less than ten seconds.

"And you!" Slowly I turned around to come nose to nose with a certain green scaly figure.

I blinked, "yes?"

"You said your voice got all squeaky and you didn't want to sing, but what was that!?"

"Um…"

"I'll tell you what that was!" Nerita was almost yelling in my face; I was too surprised to do anything about it. "That was amazing!" Before I knew what was happening I was enveloped in a hug. I stood shock still, arms straight at my side, "You need to sing here more often!" Everyone else voiced their agreement. The little pink blob was nodding his opinion as well.

"I mean look at this!" Jen walked up behind me with something small and silver in her hand. She turned to Raphaelle, "How does thing work again?"

The strawberry blonde took the silver, rectangular cube in her hand and pressed a button before showing me the screen. I was too busy staring at the device to notice what (or who) was on the screen.

"Where did you get my camera?!" I took it from her and flipped through the pictures. There were two videos from that performance; other than that there was nothing new. Just old pictures and videos of my family and friends.

"Your bag."

"You didn't look at these did you...?" I asked, referring to the other photos and videos.

"Maybe." I must have looked embarrassed or something because the next words out of Raphaelle's mouth were, "and you and friends are very beautiful so quit worrying."

That made me laugh, I flipped through the pictures laughing and smiling at them. I hadn't taken out the camera since I'd gotten there; I was surprised it hadn't died yet.

"Girls!" Sara burst through the door, "the guests aren't done congratulating you yet!"

"Well," I handed my camera to Jim and looked at his wife, "back into the fray!"

* * *

Twelve different people and creatures complimenting us later, I found myself slumping against the wall; Raphaelle joined me. We felt exhausted. Finally I sighed and looked up.

"Who. Is. _That_?!" I breathed. Whoever he was, he was cute! He was tall, a few inches taller than I; his dark brown hair was an inch long and combed slickly back. He wasn't stick-skinny but he was lean; he wasn't buff either, but he did look strong. I couldn't tell you exactly what it was, but something about him screamed cute. I couldn't look away, not even when Raphaelle answered my question; the one I didn't realize I'd spoken aloud. "I don't know. But there's something about him that I don't like."

My eyes flickered to her for only a second, "Warum?"

"Pardon?"

"Why?" I translated, "I mean, why don't you like him?" This time I tore my eyes away long enough to watch her shrug.

"He's …" she thought for a moment, "sketchy. Shifty. I don't know … I just don't trust him."

"Do you know him?" I felt my body tense in defensive; the edge of my voice hardened.

"No but-"

"'Kay then." I stood up straight.

"You don't know him either." Her voice had hardened as well.

I took a few steps forward before looking back at her over my shoulder, "how 'bout I go and find out what he's like?"

She gave me a you-_have_-to-be-kidding-me look, "he just doesn't seem to be a good guy."

"And?" I turned to face her, crossing my arms over my chest, "Jay's not the best either …"

"Better than that shady guy over there…" she muttered under her breath, but I still heard her.

I snorted, "So what?" Then a thought occurred to me, "It's like you want to set me up with Jay or something!" She said nothing, "Oh my God! You're not trying to-!" But it all made sense; pairing us up together, leaving us alone together, having him bandage my hand … they were trying make us a couple!

"Kisa…" she reached for my hand but I jerked it away.

"He's a jerk most the time, Raphaelle!" I snapped, "He's just so … so … _so annoying!_ I am _not_ going to end up with the likes of _him_!" I stormed away, not really caring where I was going. I was just getting away before it turned into a full-blown argument.

"Hey," I spun on my heels; the voice had a husky tone to it, like it belonged to a certain cute boy. I was happily proven correct, "That song … you sang … you were amazing tonight."

I felt my face redden; I felt so small and not only because of the height difference. "I, um I… th-thank you." I stammered; how embarrassing!

He chuckled; _that smile! God he's even cuter when he smiles!_ "I like you!" he laughed, "Come and have seat with me?" I nodded dumbly as I followed him to a small two person table in the back. _What do I say? What do I do? I really hope I look okay_- I tried not to slouch in my chair; he was sitting back, relaxed. I decided to give it a try; I slouched my shoulders and leaned on the table, trying to match his air of relaxedness (it's a word in my book!).

"So I heard Raphaelle writes all of her songs," he started, interrupting my thoughts, "but who wrote that one? The one you just sang? I must say, it's my favorite song I've heard in a long while."

I could feel my cheeks burn, "Well, um … I-" I swallowed, finishing with more confidence, "I wrote it."

"Well," he leaned forward and rested his chin on his hand, "I loved it." He smiled again, showing off his perfect white teeth. I was sure I was blushing. "Name's Andy by the way."

I smiled, "Kisa."

"I know."

I blinked, "Wha? How?"

He chuckled, "Um, 'cause Raphaelle introduced you? Were you not paying attention or what?"

"I was!" he gave an uh-hu-I-know-better look; I chewed on the corner of my bottom lip, "… not …"

"Why not?" he asked, chuckling a bit when I chewed on my lip.

"I was nervous! I've never sang in front of that many people before! Never! _Ever_!"

He laughed.

"I'm rambling, aren't I?" I asked.

"Kind of, but hey that's cool."

"Really?" _Watch him say no, laugh in my face and leave …._

"Yeah. My younger sister rambles a lot as well. I'm used to it; it doesn't bug me. And it doesn't hurt that I'm a good listener too." _Could this guy get any greater?!_

"You know, it's kinda stuffy and crowded in here. How 'bout we meet tomorrow night at this little restaurant in town that I know?" He offered.

"Like a date?" I asked, thinking it was too good to be true.

"Yeah. What do ya say? Wanna go on a date with me?" He flashed that amazing smile at me again. _That smile!_ I just wanted to melt.

"Ye-"

"Hey Kisa." An arm draped around my shoulders and a head appeared next to mine. "What's up?"

I clenched my teeth; _not now! _"Go. Away. Jay."

"Ha," he chuckled, "Away and Jay, that rhymes!"

"Leave Jay." I growled.

"What are you two talking about?" Jay asked, as if he cared.

_Why is he acting so weird?_

"Well I was just asking your friend here on a date for tomorrow night." Andy stated casually.

"And I said yes." I stated, trying to match my tone with Andy's.

"You did what?!"

"I agreed to go on a date with him tomorrow night; why do you sound so surprised? I can get a date you know!" It took all I had not to stick my tongue out at him.

Jay said nothing.

"Well then," Andy stood, "I'll pick you up at six?"

"Yes." I nodded and smiled at him.

"Maybe," Jay contradicted. He pulled me to my feet and began to drag me away.

"Hey!" I smacked his arm but his grip stayed firm. I turned to Andy, "bye!" I waved with my free hand, smiling from ear to ear, "I'll see you tomorrow night!" Jay continued to pull me through the thinning crowd of people. As soon as Andy was out of view I turned and snapped, "What the hell! Can't a girl talk to a cute guy in peace?"

"Nope." His voice was tight. He was mad.

"And why not?" So was I.

"Because."

"Not an answer."

"It is in my book."

"Did Raphaelle set you up to this?" I snapped at him.

"No; I just don't like him. He's-"

"Sketchy? What is it with you and Raphaelle?! He's seems fine to me."

"Kisa," he stopped, causing me to run into him, "if multiple people don't like him then he's probably bad news." He was looking down at the floor, though his eyes were shut, and his jaw was clenched.

I snorted, "Or you two just don't want me to have fun." I pulled free of his grip and headed upstairs. He didn't say a word to stop me.

* * *

"You look lovely tonight." Andy smiled at me.

"Thanks," I could feel my blush coming on. Again.

I was wearing a dress Adelaide let me borrow; she didn't press for details about my date. The dress was simple; light pink, shin length, pleated at the waist, the top was tighter, and the straps were an inch thick. Adelaide had draped a black cloth shawl-scarf over my shoulders. She even had a pair of black ballet flats that went well with the dress and scarf. I wore the oval starburst-angel pendant and my Earth jewelry.

"Shall we?" he asked offering me his elbow. I hesitated for a mere moment as I thought of Jay's advice. Before I descended the stairs to meet my date (it thrilled me to say that), Jay had stopped me, telling me to be weary of Andy. _Why would he say that?_ I thought. Then I realized I shouldn't care what Jay thinks, it was time to have fun on my date!

"We shall!" I hooked my elbow in his and smiled at him, than we headed into town.

Which restaurant did he bring me to? You guessed it; the little one where I first met Jay. _This will be an interesting night …_

* * *

My eyes lingered on the kitchen doors. Of course, Jay never waltzed out of them, but that didn't stop my daydreaming. I couldn't stop thinking of him; he involuntarily popped into my head at every turn in the conversation. I finally decided it was the place; too many negative memories surrounded it.

"What's that you're playing with around your neck?" Andy asked at one point when I was staring at the kitchen doors again.

I looked down at the necklace I hadn't realized I was touching.

"Oh, this?" I said, holding it up so Andy could see it better. "It's just something Jay got for me."

"Oh, so are you two like…a thing?" he asked, looking somewhat disappointed.

"Eww No! We're just-" I stopped in the middle of my sentence. "No, we aren't even friends. He annoys me. And frankly, he just confuses me. One minute he can't stand me, the next he's being all nice and friendly, and then he's back to hating me."

I looked up at Andy, since I had been staring at a random spot on the table.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to vent," I apologized, hoping my blush wasn't too evident.

Andy just smiled at me.

"No, don't worry about it. He sounds like a nightmare. Guys who flip-flop about how they feel are stupid. When I like someone, I go for it and let them know _exactly_ how I feel," he said in a low husky voice, staring directly into my eyes.

I would have blushed, but one thing he said stuck in my mind.

"You think he likes me?" I asked, the thought never having occurred to me.

"Well, who wouldn't? You're beautiful," he smiled again and gave me a wink.

I blushed again and giggled, staring down at my lap and smiling.

* * *

"Come on," Andy said after he paid the check, "I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise? Okay." I stood and he led me out the door by my elbow. We walked down the dark lamp-lit street; the night air was crisp. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

_What is this nervous feeling?_

"We're here." He stopped in front of a dark alleyway. Fearful butterflies were banging around the inside of my stomach, sending up red warning flags in my head.

"Where's the surprise?" I tried to keep my voice from squeaking. I failed.

"In here." He began to move toward the alley but I jerked back, freeing my elbow.

"No. I'm fine out here."

"Come on." His voice had a slight edge to it; he was getting frustrated.

_This is bad, this is bad, this is bad! This is really, really, really bad!_ I turned to run; I had to get away. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound ever escaped my lips, for my scull suddenly erupted in pain and my vision went fuzzy. _Ah shi-_

But I never finished the thought. I hit the ground and darkness overtook me; I was out cold. And there was no one around to save me.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Dun dun duuuuuuun! (Sorry I kinda like cliff hangers ... )**

**So moral of story (er ... I mean chapter) listen to your friends and/or double-date if you're going on a date with a random person. (I guess ...) Just to be clear nothing like this (getting kidnapped by a date) has ever happened to me and *knock on wood*hopefully it never will. (I hope the same for all of you!)**

**I kind make myself (well at least Kisa) sound really ... I don't know, shallow in this. Just to be clear I'd (hopefully) never go with some random guy that no one trusted.**

**This chapter was really dramatic ... did you like it? (Leave a review saying why or why not please! I'm not going to change it but I'm curious to know what y'all think!)**

**I don't know, I guess this chapter is kind of dark but I still think the other one (chapter five) was darker. But you can be the judge of that.**

**I won't have any pictures of the dress Kisa wore on her date up on deviantART because I made it up. I don't own a pink dress.**

**PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid helped with some of the dialog to make it better. She actually put in the part where Kisa was fiddling with her necklace on her date and I was like, "omg I do that all the time! xD" I thought it was a funny coincidence. **

**Well that's all for this chapter. Keep an eye open for the next one later tonight. :)**

**I love reviews so please leave one! You can critique my work as well but please no flames.**

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, and Andy belong to me.**

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	11. Chapter 10

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Ten

"Your move." Jay sighed and stared at the chess board, running his hand through his sandy blond hair. Morph flew between the two boys as if he were studying their moves. Jim was smart, but so was Jay. He picked up his piece and placed it on a square. He looked up at his friend and smiled; Mr. Hawkins simply smiled back, made his move and announced, "Checkmate. Better luck next time Ja-"

"What time is it?" His wife interrupted as she poked her head into the dining room; her long hair hung down perpendicular to her head.

"Five minutes after the last time you asked." Jay answered at the same time as Jim said, "Nine O' three."

Raphaelle walked fully into the room, biting her lip, "It's getting late. Where is she?" Worry was written across her face.

"I'm sure she's fine. It's only been three hours." Jim stood and walked over to his wife. Jay kicked back, plopped his feet onto the table next to the game and focused on the clock.

A few minutes later, Austin and Delbert burst through the doors; with the rest of their friends at their heels, "We've done it!" Austin yelled, motioning towards himself and Dr. Doppler.

Jay, Jim and Raphaelle stared at him, "Okay," Jim spoke up, "I'll bite. You've done what?"

"We've finished it! The machine! The portal to get Kisa home!"

"It's done?! Really?!" Raphaelle squealed, "Ohmygosh! Austin you're amazing!"

"I know," he said narcissistically with a straight face, "go on." The straight face lasted for only a few moments before he was laughing along with his friends. Jay rolled his eyes but found himself smiling with the group of longtime friends.

"So where is Kisa?" The young adult canine asked.

"On her date." Without meaning too, Jay had let disgust slip into his voice. Every pair of eyes in the room turned to him. "What?"

"Jealous?" Jim raised an eyebrow, smiling knowingly at his old friend.

"What? No!"

Everyone turned sideways trying to hide their doubt filled faces as them hummed, "Ah hu…" quietly.

Jay thought about sulking at the wall and ignoring them all, but it seemed childish. Instead he kicked his feet down from the table and stood. "I'm going to find Kisa. She'll want to go home ASAP."

As he exited the room he could hear Nerita announce a little too loudly, "He's not getting her because she'll wanna go home. He's getting her because he loooooves her!"

Jay slammed the door on their laughter.

* * *

_Where the hell is that girl?!_ The teen boy trudged through the streets. There was scarcely a person about; it shouldn't be hard to find a girl with fluffy blond hair dressed in pink next to a tall teenage boy. Apparently it was impossibly hard.

Kisa was nowhere to be found; nor was Andy.

Jay kicked an empty tin can against a brick retaining wall as he let out a growl of frustration. He was beginning to get a horrible feeling in his gut. He should have found Kisa by now, they should be home celebrating. But he hadn't and they weren't. _Something is seriously wrong!_

He turned down the next street he came to and happened upon the restaurant he used to work at. He shuddered at the unwanted and unneeded memories. He was turning to leave when he heard his name, "Jay!"

Jay spun to find an old friend waving at him from the side kitchen window; he was leaning halfway out trying to catch his attention, waving wildly. "Randy?!" The ex-kitchen boy jogged over to the window. "Randy?! What are you doing? What do you want? I don't really have time to talk right now, I'm-"

"Looking for that girl? The one who came in here with the Hawkins girls the day you were fired? Yeah, I figured. She left a half hour ago with some dude; they went that way." He pointed to Jay's left, down a long darkened street. Not many people traveled that street, especially at night.

"Look I just need to find her-" He was saved from having to think up an excuse by another one of Randy's interruptions.

"Yeah, I know. That guy she was with is bad news. He hangs around with the wrong people."

"Don't tell me…" Jay moaned as he closed his eyes and rolled his head up to the night sky.

"Pirates." They said in unison.

"Ah hell Kisa!" Jay shouted. _What have you gotten yourself into?!_ "Listen Randy, I've gotta go." He began mentally listing off every swear word he knew as he turned away.

"Go get your girlfriend back! Fight for her man!" his friend cheered him on from the window.

Jay spun, "She is _not_ my girlfriend! Why does everyone keep calling her that?!"

"Ah hu." Randy's look was clear; he thought Jay was in denial, "Keep telling yourself that man." He said. "Just go get her back!" With a wave of dismissal, the sandy haired boy turned and took off down the street. He didn't skid to a stop until he was at the mouth of a dark alley. It was the last and darkest alley on the street; if he had learned anything over the years, it was that pirates swarmed to dark places.

"Kisa?" He hissed in a low, worried whisper, "You in here?" No answer. Slowly he stepped forward until the dark shadow from the alley overtook him; he waited there for his eyes to adjust. Once he could see clear enough he walked forward, careful not make a sound.

After a while, he found himself at the other end of the alley, squinting in the bright moonlight, with no sight of Kisa. _Damn it! Where is she?!_

Then he saw it; Kisa's black scarf. It was lying in the dirt leading down to the city harbor. After cursing aloud he took off down the road. _Be okay Kisa! Please be okay!_

* * *

After five minutes of running he finally reached the harbor. Ships, boats, and houseboats lined the docks, one after another. There was no more than a foot between each floating space vehicle. It was going to take a while for him find a certain blonde and a certain bloody pirate.

Jay stood on the main dock and walked in circles trying to decide which branch dock he should choose first. Then he spotted a black flat laying on its side nearly three yards to his left; he ran over and picked it up. His suspicion was confirmed; the shoe belonged to Kisa. _She must have kicked it off, smart move._ Still holding the shoe, he stood and continued running down the dock; all the time keeping an eye out for big blond hair.

Finally he found them. Well, he found Andy anyway.

_Of course he would be at the farthest end of the city harbor!_ Jay tried not to groan with frustration. The pirate stood in the middle of the dock, which was one of the last branches off the harbor. Behind him, the ex-kitchen boy could see a small lifeboat tied at the edge of dock.

"Where is she?!" He asked in an overly calm voice.

Andy turned around. Jay had expected to see surprise, but Andy simply smirked at him and threw his shoulders back. "Who is the 'she' of whom you are referring too?" Andy answered the question with one of his own; his voice was sly and his smile knowing.

"Don't give me that BS!" Jay snapped, his voice raising.

"Alright," the knowing smile didn't leave his lips as he stepped aside and held his arm out toward the lifeboat, "go and get her."

He squinted at the small boat before he saw a pink figure slowly rise up from the floor of the boat. He was staring at a side profile of Kisa; her arms bound behind her back. She turned her head and looked down the dock at Jay; her mouth was gagged and her eyes were wide, fearful, and begging for help.

"Kisa!" This time Jay yelled. He took two sloppy running steps towards Kisa and the lifeboat but stopped next to Andy. He turned and faced the pirate who he noticed for the first time was a few inches taller than him. Andy seemed confused; like he expected Jay to run full on to the girl whom he was holding captive. But Jay just turned so the boys were face-to-face and punched Andy in the nose.

The young pirate's head flew back as he stumbled backwards a few clumsy steps. Then he brought his head forward and cupped his nose in his hands; Jay could see red running out of his nose. He couldn't help but give a smug smile, "Serves you right." He grabbed the pirates coat collar and pulled his face closer to his own, "Now, why did you tie up Kisa?!"

Andy didn't answer so Jay gave him a shove; the pirate boy stumbled back, and nearly fell from the dock. He looked up with wide eyes at the dirty blond who was walking towards him. "I was just following my Captain's orders! I swear!" _So he acts all high and mighty but when you call his bluff he chickens out. Hum, figures … _

"Who's you Captain, Pretty Boy?"

"That doesn't matter! He just has it out for Raphaelle and Jim Hawkins!" he was talking fast; Jay had done well with his scare tactics.

"Oh, I think it matters." Jay took a hard step forward and Andy's face paled, "Captain Rosa."

"Rosa?! The Great Captain Rosa?! But he's one of the most wanted pirates in the galaxy! What the hell does he want with Jim and Raphaelle?!"

"They locked up Alex."

Jay stood and stared at the teenage boy, "Wha? ... What does that have to do with kidnapping Kisa?!"

"The Captain idolized Alex. He's had it out for Jim and Raphaelle since … after he kidnapped her the first time! Now he wants to make them pay!"

The dirty blond closed his eyes and sighed in frustration once again, "Again." He spoke through his teeth, "What. Does. That. Have to do. With. Kidnapping Kisa?!"

Andy slouched down and cowered behind his arms, "He wants to lock her up somewhere and keep her away from the Hawkins for, well, forever! He can't see or talk to or get new ideas from Alex ever again, so he's locking up Kisa so they wouldn't get to see her ever again!"

"Um … Okaaay …" Jay wasn't sure what to think about the story. "Well then …" He couldn't think of anything else he needed to get out of him, so he said, "Have a nice nap." And brought his fist down atop the pirate's head; knocking Andy unconscious.

He dragged the sleeping body down to the lifeboat. He whipped out his small pocket knife and cut Kisa's hands free before untying her gag. "Are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he? He didn't …" Jay left the sentence unfinished. Kisa simply shook her head; tears began running down her cheeks.

"No" her voice was small, she stared at her hands, "All he did was knock me out and tie me up." The tears began to fall harder, "I'm just- he just- It was-" she looked up into Jay's eyes, "I'm scared."

"It's okay," he patted her arm, "you'll be okay." She sniffed and began wiping her tears away. He reached down and pulled her hand back. "It's okay to cry sometimes," he whispered, but Kisa's tears were already dried up. She shrugged and stood; Jay helped her out of the boat and together they placed Andy into the boat.

Kisa stooped to untie the boat but Jay stopped her, "Let's go call Amelia. She can take care of him." She nodded and left the young unconscious pirate in the small lifeboat. The two started to head back towards the Inn when Jay noticed that one of her feet were bare. "Here," Jay said, handing her the shoe he had found on the ground. "Thanks," Kisa said, slipping it back onto her foot. She immediately started to put as much distant between herself and the lifeboat at the end of the harbor.

A moment later Kisa wrapped her arms around herself and Jay caught her shivering a little. "Are you cold?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine," she replied, but she shivered again. Jay rolled his eyes and took his off jacket.

"Here, take this," he said, handing her his jacket.

"I'm fine," Kisa repeated.

"Just take it," Jay said, putting it around her shoulders. She gave him a small smile and pulled her arms through the sleeves. Jay looped his arm through hers; he would not let her be kidnapped again. He expected her to protest, but she didn't say a word.

Jay glanced over at Kisa and saw her hand at her chest. Her fingers, which were barely poking out of the sleeves of his jacket, which seemed so large on her, were clutched around something. He reached over and uncurled her fingers to see what was inside.

It was the oval starburst pendant that he had picked out for her at the shop where she had almost been kidnapped. _She still has it? _he thought. _I figured she hated me so much she would have thrown it out._ He let go of her hand and glanced at her face. She was staring at him, though he couldn't decipher the expression on her face. He looked away and tried to hide the blush he could feel rising in his cheeks. When he turned back to look, Kisa was staring at her shoes, the hand which had previously been clutching the necklace now stuffed into his jacket pocket.

For most of the walk Kisa did not say a word. Neither did Jay. However, half way home, she whispered, "Thank you Jay."

"Joseph."

"What?"

"My full name is Joseph. I hate my full name, so I go by the only part of it that I like. The 'J'." _Why am I telling her this?! And why am I telling it to her now of all times?_ Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a small smile creep onto Kisa's lips. _That's why_, he concluded.

* * *

Back at the inn, the two decided it was best to tell everyone about the pirates and the kidnapping attempts; along with the kidnapping attempt that had just taken place.

Once the stories were out, no one said a word; most of them just sat there, staring at the two teens in shock. The only person who made a move was Delbert. He stood and walked into the kitchen to phone his wife, muttering something about how she was going to go arrest Andy.

Jay had known Jim long enough to see the man was moments away from yelling. He probably would have too, if Kisa hadn't turned to his wife and said, "You can say 'I told you so' now," in a small voice.

But Raphaelle simply smiled at her best friend and said, "I could." She paused, as if she was considering it, before continuing with, "But I won't." Kisa gave her a big smile and thanked her before getting pulled into a hug by the strawberry blonde.

Jay glanced back at Jim. He didn't look like he was about to yell anymore.

* * *

_"Jay, help me! Jaaaay!" Kisa's hands were bound but there was no gag fastened around her mouth. _

_Jay found himself running down a dock after Kisa who was being carried away in a lifeboat. The boat was too close to the dock to be able to fly, but try as he might, Jay could never reach her; the dock was endless. Finally he found himself gaining, he reached out his hand … and closed it around air. _

_Kisa was getting away again and this time he was falling. Falling and falling and falling down an endless black hole, all the while seeing Kisa bound and afraid with Andy standing over her shoulders, laughing._

Jay bolted up in bed, gasping for air. _It was only a dream, it was only a dream, it was only a dream_, he kept repeating until his heartbeat had slowed to a normal rate. _Or was it?_ He threw his covers back and hurried down the hall to Kisa's room.

She was lying in bed fast asleep. Once again his heartbeat returned to normal. _She's still safe._

He quietly sat on the floor by the door; if he was awake he might as well keep an eye on her. There was no need for a pirate to burst in and kidnap her while she slept.

After a few minutes, he decided watching someone sleep was a little creepy, so he kicked back, lying on the floor with his arms behind his head. The sound of Kisa's breathing was making his eyelids grow heavy. _At least she's safe_ … he thought before he found himself drifting off to sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Yaay! Kisa's okay! *Cheers!* (Although you probably saw that coming ... her being okay I mean ...)**

**Did anyone think Andy was going to end up being a pirate? If so ... do you think it was an obvious move or no? Leave a review and tell me what you think, please! I would love to know! Anything to make my future writing better! **

**So what did you think about the third person point of view and about the inside glimpse into Jay's head? I hope you liked it! And poor Jay always getting teased ... Haha, wait! What am I saying? He's so much fun to tease! xD **

**Ooooh Andy. *Shacks head* You're not as tough as you seem to be ... *Shacks head* Oh well, I'm sure Jay appreciated that! xD**

**Well that's it for this chapter ... I might upload another one tonight but I don't know... And I'm not sure how many I'll upload this weekend, I might be busy, I might not be. We'll see. **

**I love reviews so please leave one! You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me. **

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by ****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	12. Chapter 11

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Eleven

I knew the room was filled with sunlight before I even opened my eyes. Not wanting to get up, I rolled over and pulled my covers over my head. Unfortunately that proved to be too hot and I was already awake. With a huff, I threw back my covers and sat up; I stretched my arms up over my head and rubbed my eyes. The mascara that was still on my eyes was making some of my lashes stick together; I finally got them opened all the way. And that's when I noticed the body lying on my floor. _Jay!_

With my heart racing a hundred miles an hour, I leapt from my bed and stumbled over to the boy lying on my floor.

"_Jay!_ Jay, are you okay?!" I shook his shoulders and watched his head flop back and forth.

"Hummmmm? Wha?" he mumbled, his eyes fluttering open. "Ummm… Mornin' Keys…"

I exhaled through my nose sharply, "Don't sleep on the floor!" I snapped as I dropped him and watched him hit the hardwood, "You almost gave me a heart attack you jerk!"

"You're too young to have a heart attack." He snickered as he propped himself up on his elbows. I glared at him. "What?" then he smiled, "You didn't think I was dead or something, did you?" he chuckled, "Wow, to what do I owe this honor of you caring?"

Maybe it was just my ears, but he almost sounded bitter when he spoke; so I smacked his shoulder so hard he winced. I hadn't meant to hit him that hard but I couldn't help but think, _Good!_ "You! … You! …" I searched for a word but came up empty. So I spit out, "Jerk!" And hit him again.

"Don't lie, you were worried about me, weren't you?" his smile was almost a smirk. This time his voice was teasing and it was equally as annoying as his bitter tone. I glared at him again and pushed his shoulders back down onto the floor.

"No! You almost gave me a heart attack!" I repeated, raising my voice so I was almost yelling again; I was starting to get frustrated.

"This would imply that you were worried about me!" he shot back.

"That would imply that normal people don't sleep on other people's floors!" I snapped before processing what I'd just said, "Wait … why _were_ you sleeping on my floor in the first place?" I eyed him.

"I- No reason." He glanced away.

"'Don't lie, you were worried about me weren't you?'" I teased him. He stuck his tongue out in a childish matter.

"Nope."

I stood up; I needed to feel taller as I shouted, "Well then why the hell were you sleeping on my damn floor you son-of-a-female dog?!" I could feel tears prick at the corners of my eyes; be them out of annoyance or something else, I didn't know.

What happened next shocked me.

Jay stood up so we were face to face, from the look on his face I figured he would start yelling again. To my surprise, he spoke softly, "because you almost got kidnapped last night. So yeah, I guess I was a little worried about you. Happy now?" He asked as he brushed his thumb against the corners of my eyes, wiping away my would-be tears, or maybe some mascara that had smeared.

I tried to glare at him but couldn't so I nodded, "yeah."

He stood stock still for a moment, then he seemed to move towards me, but it was jerky and hesitant. Then he darted forward and kissed me on the cheek.

And then he quickly turned and walked out.

I slowly sunk back down onto the floor, sitting mermaid style, one hand on my cheek covering where Jay had just planted a kiss. My cheeks burned feverishly red as my blush worked its way from my cheeks down my neck. My mind whirled with confusion. Why did Jay kiss me?! Does he … like me?! But a bigger question rang in my mind: _What. Just. Happened?!_

* * *

Amelia Doppler slammed her palms down on the metal table. In front of her sat Andy, who looked tired and afraid as he fiddled with his the handcuffs that kept him attached to the table. He jumped at Amelia's sudden slap on the table.

"I don't really care why Rosa has an issue with Raphaelle and Jim or even what Kisa has to do with all of it. What I do care about is why you did it. So why did you sign up for this?"

"I …" he mumbled the rest under his breath.

"I can't hear you."

"I'm the cabin boy. I need money for my family. The Captain offered up extra money for anyone who was willing to capture Kisa … I needed it for my family …" the whole time he spoke, he didn't meet the feline woman's eyes.

"Yes that does add up …"

"Um … excuse me?"

"Why a nice boy like you would try and do something so … repentant."

"Thanks … I think …" he still looked worried.

"How about I make a proposition for you, Andy?" Amelia smiled one of her devilish smiles and the boy's stomach sank.

"What kind of a proposition?" he asked, getting a gut feeling that he would regret asking.

* * *

After sitting on the floor for what felt like an hour I finally moved. I stood up and walked down the hall to the bathroom and took a shower. I spent extra time scrubbing my face, and not just because I hadn't washed my make-up off from the night before.

I threw on a dress and made my way down stairs to find Raphaelle waiting for me at the bottom. She was holding a plate in one hand; on the plate was a piping hot cinnamon roll. Oh did it smell delicious!

"What if I told you Austin and Delbert finished the machine last night and we're setting sail in a few days to go back to the Stonehenge Planet?" she said.

I stared at her for a moment before squealing and wrapping my arms around her, "Really! That's amazing! … But wait, why are we going back to the Stonehenge Planet?"

"They're not sure how many times it will work or if it will work outside of the planet. They can explain it better if you can understand Latin." Her eyes widened and she looked away. They must have tried to explain it to her earlier and she hadn't understood. Not that I could do much better …

"But Latin's not a spoken language." I pointed out.

"Exactly." She grinned.

"Um …" despite my best efforts I turned my attention to the cinnamon roll. It smelled too good! "Do you enjoy tormenting me?"

"Hu?"

"The cinnamon roll. Who's it for?" Raphaelle laughed and handed over the plate, "Danke schön! Thank you!"

"I'm going to assume that means 'thank you'."

I nodded as I took a bite and smiled at her, "my breakfast choices are ssooo healthy aren't they?" we both laughed.

"How about you sing one more song at the inn the night before we leave?"

I almost choked, "Sing what?!" I asked in a high-pitched almost panicky voice.

"I don't know or care. Pick a song."

As I thought, I let my eyes shift side to side, not really seeing anything, "How about …" I trailed off.

Suddenly Raphaelle smiled and said, "how about a duet!"

I smiled back, "with the two of us again? Perfect!"

"Nope." She shook her head, "between you and Jay."

This time I did choke. After coughing up the part of my cinnamon roll that had almost lodged itself in my wind-pipe, I said, "You have got to be kidding me! Does Jay even know how to sing?!"

"According to Jim, yes he does."

I rolled my eyes, "oh yeah then we could sing '_I See the Light_' together. Like that would happen…" I said sarcastically.

"Oh! I love that song!" Raphaelle clasp her hands under her chin, "Yes you two should sing that!"

"Um, I was kidding."

"I know but it would be perfect!"

In as dry a tone as I could muster I asked the question I already knew the answer to, "I have no say in this do I?"

"Not really." She winked. "You two could have such chemistry!"

I couldn't help myself, I thought about what had just happened with Jay when I woke up. I could feel a blush coming on. I shoved more cinnamon roll into my mouth and turned away, hoping Raphaelle couldn't see it. "I'm going to go try and remember the words …" it was a lame excuse, but at least it was believable.

"Okay, I'm going to go find Jay!" she was so giddy that she almost skipped away. _This will not end up well … _

* * *

I sighed, put down the guitar, and looked at Raphaelle, "I _really_ do not want to sing this with Jay. You sing it with me! That's the only reason I got through the first night!"

"Two problems with that, A) it's a song about two people falling in love. So that wouldn't work with us … and B) you two will be so cute together!"

"_We're_ already singing it together…" I mumbled and pouted at the wall.

"Yes, for practice."

"So who's practicing with Jay?"

"Me. After I practice with you."

"How did you even convince him to sing?" I asked, actually wondering how Raphaelle could get Jay to agree to that.

"I had a little help in persuading him," she replied, smiling mischievously.

I sighed and strummed up the guitar again, then I placed my hand on its neck and looked up, "the band has a violin right?"

"Yeah but you can't play that and sing."

"I know. I just haven't play in a while." I loved sting instruments, but guitar and violin were my favorites.

"I'll see what I can do." She smiled, "now from the top."

* * *

I sat at the vanity in Raphaelle and Jim's room and stared at my mirror; neither one was around so I was left alone with my thoughts. That's not always a good thing… at the time all I could think about was that I couldn't believe I was about to sing _with Jay!_ And sing a love song nonetheless!

I was wearing my navy halter dress that I had worn the last time I had sung at the inn. This time I took the straps and tied them around my back, making it a strapless. And I normally do not do strapless; but I liked the look and so did the other girls. Sarah helped me pin the built-in slip up so it stopped around my shins, my navy flats would be visible underneath the see-through navy covering. I had to admit I loved the look.

This time I left my hair down and had Iris straighten it for me. She also pinned a few front strands of my hair up with a flower pin. I was like Rapunzel, but with short blonde hair as opposed to brunette. It was fitting, considering the movie the song was coming from, but still! I was singing it with Jay and something about him reminded me of Flynn Rider, though his hair was sandy blond, so it wasn't that he looked like him. I closed my eyes, hung my head back, and moaned. _Oh God! This song plus Jay cannot end well!_ Yet, there was a small part of me that hoped it would.

I finished off my look by sliding my dream catcher earrings into my ears and fastened my oval starburst-angel pendent around my neck. Looks-wise, I was ready.

"Kisa! Come on, it's time to head downstairs!" Raphaelle stuck her head inside the door, smiling.

I sighed and stood up, _show time_. I was as nervous this time as I was the last, and unfortunately Raphaelle wouldn't be on stage with me this time.

As she sang her now famous "_Part of This World_" I felt a hand clasp mine. I jumped slightly as I turned to find the ex-kitchen boy clutching my hand rather tight, "are you as nervous as I am?" he whispered. It took me a second to answer him; I was too busy staring at him. He wore dress pants, a white long sleeved shirt, and a navy vest and tie to match my dress. I felt like we were going to Prom together, not singing at an inn.

When I got my composure back, I whispered, "Judging by the look in your eye and the way you're squeezing my hand, I'd say yes," I paused for a beat before realizing he hadn't taken the hint, "oh and ow!"

"Oh sorry!" he dropped my hand. _Much better …_

I chuckled, "you know if we both run now, we won't have to sing."

I half expected him to take off with my hand in his, but he stayed put. Instead, he looked me in the eye and with a serous face said, "But your voice is beautiful." No 'let's run!' or 'I don't think my voice-' anything. He just complimented me. _Wow …_ Was the only thing that came to my mind.

I blushed, muttered a "thanks …" and inhaled deeply, "well then! Let's do this."

He smiled nervously, "okay."

Raphaelle introduced us as we walked on stage and took our places at the two stools set up to face each other. We each had a microphone stand sitting in front of us. I grabbed my pre-tuned guitar and the two of us sat nervously as the band strummed up to the ready. It was time for Jay and me to sing our duet.

A hush fell over the audience. I glanced over at Raphaelle; she gave me a huge smile and a thumbs-up.

I looked back to Jay; he nodded to me signaling that he was ready. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, told myself I could do this, and opened my eyes. I strummed the guitar and opened my mouth to sing. I stared out at the back of the Inn, trying to ignore all the faces staring up at me.

_All those days watching from the windows_

_All those years outside looking in_

_All that time never even knowing_

_Just how blind I've been_

_Now I'm here, blinking in the starlight_

_Now I'm here, suddenly I see_

_Standing here, it's all so clear_

_I'm where I am meant to be_

_And at last I see the light_

_And it's like the fog has lifted_

_And at last I see the light_

_And it's like the sky is new_

_And it's warm and real and bright_

_And the world has somehow shifted_

_All at once everything looks different_

_Now that I see you._

The band picked up slowly and Jay took his turn. He looked out towards the audience, sweeping his gaze across the room. As soon as the first note left his mouth, I marveled at how beautiful his voice was. It was deep and mesmerizing. I almost lost focus. Luckily, I can play guitar without thinking.

_All those days chasing down a daydream_

_All those years living in a blur_

_All that time never truly seeing_

_Things, the way they were_

_Now she's here shining in the starlight_

_Now she's here, suddenly I know_

_If she's here it's crystal clear_

_I'm where I'm meant to go._

Now came the tricky part, singing at the same time. Jay turned to look at me for the first time since we had gotten on stage.

_And at last I see the light_

Jay took a solo line, his eyes never leaving mine:

_And it's like the fog has lifted_

We sang together again, both hitting the notes perfectly. But to be honest, I wasn't worried about the notes anymore, I was simply feeling the music, and focusing on Jay's green eyes, which seemed to sparkle in the spotlight.

_And at last I see the light_

My turn for the solo line, Jay smiled at me, and my lips curved up in a smile as well, brightening my tone:

_And it's like the sky is new_

And we finished the song together, never looking away from each other's eyes.

_And it's warm and real and bright_

_And the world has somehow shifted_

_All at once, everything is different_

_Now that I see you_

There was a brief musical interlude, in which Jay stood up from his stool, taking his microphone from its stand, and walked beside me, placing his hand on my shoulder. I looked up so that I could keep my eyes locked with his as we finished the song.

_Now that I see you_

I plucked the finally cord on the guitar and let it fade out with the band.

Jay stared at me. I stared at Jay. I let out a little gasp of happiness and smiled. Jay did the same and smiled, showing his surprisingly straight teeth. And just as the spot light faded from us and the crowd erupted in applause, I stretched my neck up and kissed Jay's cheek.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Ooooohhhhhhhhhh! They kissed each other! (Well on the cheek. But still!)**

**Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday; I was busy and couldn't get on the internet. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post anymore until tomorrow night or Monday either. It's a busy weekend for me.**

**Sadly I cannot play the guitar or the violin ... I'd say "I wish I could!" but who am I kidding, I'd never practice them anyway! xD (Kisa obviously is better at practicing interments then I am ...)**

**I told PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid that I wanted to put another song in here but I didn't know which one and she suggested "I See the Lights" from Tangled. I was like "Yes! I love that song!" Aaaand that's how that song was picked. xD 'Cause you totally wanted to know that ...**

**I doubt I'll be posting any pictures of Kisa with her dressed fashioned the way it is. That sounds like too much work plus I'm busy working and getting ready for school to start soon ...**

**Well see you all in the next chapter!**

**I love reviews so please leave one! You can critique my work as well but please no flames.**

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me.**

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	13. Chapter 12

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Twelve

I dropped my bags onto my mattress on the ship. It was almost time to leave for the second and last time. I walked back off the ship so I could give Mrs. Hawkins and the Doppler family a hug good-bye. BEN picked me up in a bear hug, pinning my arms to my side. I was surprised my eyes didn't pop out like a stress reliever doll …

"'Kay … BEN … not breathin' … BEN!" that robot could never take a hint. "BEN! … Put. Me. Down!"

"Opps! Sorry Keys!" he set me down and brushed off my shoulders.

I rolled my eyes before throwing my arms around his neck, "I'll miss you too BEN."

Morph stuck by me the whole time, floating around my head as I said my good byes to everyone.

After being used as a human jungle gym (again – not that I minded), shaking hands, and hugging Amelia and Delbert I found myself standing alone for a moment. Jim and Raphaelle were talking to Sarah, Austin was talking to the Dopplers, and Gabriel and Angela were entertaining their kids. Iris, Jennifer, Nerita, and Adelaide were running between different groups of people and the ship; everyone seemed to be moving around. I craned my neck, but Jay was nowhere to be found.

So I stood amidst the craziness and tried to memorize the moment so I wouldn't forget it. Knowing my track record with my memory the chances of my remembering the details were slim …

"Boo." It wasn't meant to be scary but I jumped anyway. What can I say? Even little things can cause me to jump ... Jay just laughed as I turned to face him, "calm down Keys. I didn't mean to scare you, it was just a greeting." _Where did that nickname come from and why is everyone calling me that all of sudden?!_

"Yeah, I jump easy." I spun around and went back to memorizing the scene in front of me. I wasn't in any mood to talk to him; I'd been looking for him only so I could _avoid him_. I'd been avoiding him since our song last night; after I'd kissed his cheek, I'd fled the stage. I don't know why I kissed him, but I planned on confronting him once I figured that out.

_So when I'm trying to avoid a boy he naturally walks up behind me, of course … _

To my surprise, Jay didn't say anything more. He just stood next to me and people-watched as well.

Finally, it was time to board the ship. I gave everyone a final good-bye, and upon looking at Mrs. Hawkins' tearful face I felt my own eyes water up. I somehow managed not to cry. We waved good-bye from the railing of the ship; I felt like I was on a cruise ship.

As we set sail I let my body float freely in the air, _zero-Gs – now I know why people want to be astronauts._ We had done this same take off before, but this time it seemed to put my racing mind at ease.

And then the artificial gravity was turned on.

I gave a small yelp and squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the impact of the hard deck. But the pain I was expecting never came. I opened one eye and saw Jay grinning at me so I opened the other. He had grabbed me when I'd fallen and held me bridle style in his arms. _What's with me always being a damsel in distress and with Jay always being my hero?!_ I thought with an inward groan as I closed my eyes and let my head hang back, "just put me down please." I moaned. Jay only laughed as he complied. The boy who used to ignore me wouldn't leave me alone when I wanted to be left alone. _This is going to be a long trip…_

* * *

That night I awoke from a nightmare. It was a nightmare I remembered having when I was little. I was playing in my drive way back on Earth when a strange man walked up to me. Without him saying a word I knew his intentions were to kidnap me. I tried to stand up and run away but my legs wouldn't work. I tried to scream but my voice wouldn't carry past my lips. I tried to crawl up the driveway toward my house, toward safety, but my arms couldn't support my weight. The fear and adrenaline pumping through my veins gave me tunnel vision, but I knew the man was still behind me. As his arms were wrapping around me, I bolted up in bed.

I was wet from cold sweat and my heart was pounding. I threw the covers to the side. I needed to walk off the adrenaline. I crept past the hammocks and mattresses that held the other crew members and slipped up the stairs.

The stars were breathtaking. As breathtaking as they were the first night I'd been on this ship. I walked over to the railing, stuck my head over, and looked around. It was absolutely beautiful!

"Breathtaking isn't it?" I jumped and turned but I already knew who was talking. Jay strolled over and sat up on the railing next to me. He wore baggy pants and a button up shirt that he'd left unbuttoned. _Don't stare at his chest Kisa! Don't do it!_ I inwardly cursed him for wearing his shirt the way he did.

"Yeah…" I whispered, turning back to the stars, "it is." The stars were shinning so bright around us. Plus it made it easier to ignore Jay's chose in shirt.

We stayed silent for a few minutes; we took in the sight of all of the stars.

"You know, Raphaelle took me out one night and I got some stardust." _Why am I telling him this?_

"Yeah. I know; Jim and I saw you two come in laughing, remember?" he cocked his head at me as if to say, _duh!_

"Oh. Yeah." I leaned on my forearms, resting my chin on my clasped hands.

"Kisa? Can I ask you a question?" he hopped down and turned to look at me.

_I'm going to regret this aren't I?_ I looked back at him, at his face, "Um, sure. Shoot."

"Why do you want to go back to Earth so bad? I mean what's so great about it anyway?"

I looked back down at my hands and snorted, "What's so great about it?" then I chuckled, "that's probably the easiest question anyone has ever asked me."

"So the answer is?" he asked, drawing out the 's' on 'is'.

"My family." I smiled.

"Your-" he started as though he were confused, then he stopped and started again, "What are they like? Your family, I mean. Tell me about them." He sounded … interested and concerned; in a good way.

"Well …" I sighed, I might as well start at the beginning, "I was orphaned when I was two or three. I guess my parents died in a car crash or something. To be honest I don't really know what happened to them." Jay kept his face blank, but I could see pity in his gaze, which I didn't want or need, so I looked away from him and stared out into space. "So I ended up in the same orphanage as Raphaelle, as you know, and we grew up being best friends."

"I was adopted when I turned eight. It was weird at first … learning to live under a new roof with new people. But eventually I adjusted to calling my new parents mom and dad, and my new siblings brother and sister."

"What are they all like?" he asked. Something in his tone made me curious about his family life. It was almost as if he didn't have one…

"Well, my parents are really nice. A lot of the time my dad kids around – likes he's seven or something." I rolled my eyes, "and my mom too. So it's really fun at my house most of the time. I mean, don't get me wrong, they get mad like everyone else's parents, but overall they're very understanding. When either one puts their foot down, then that's that. But it helps that I listen to them."

"They have a nineteen year old son, Ron but we call him Rebel; for obvious reasons."

"Obvious reasons like what?" he drew out the 'i' in like, as he raised an eyebrow.

I laughed, "Well, he's almost six feet tall, keeps his hair in one of those short Mohawks things which he sometimes dyes really weird colors – I think it was dark blond before I ended up here – and he has a piercing in his left eyebrow. Why? I have no clue … You have to use reverse psychology on that boy for everything! He cannot do what people want him too. He doesn't smoke or do drugs or anything – mom and dad would kill him if he did – but I know he drinks on occasion. Mom and dad don't know about that though." I absentmindedly put my finger to my lips.

Jay smiled, "my lips are sealed." He pulled an invisible zipper across his lips.

I smiled back and continued my story, "But underneath all of that he cares about Marda and me. He taught us self-defense and he tried to teach us to rap once. Yeaaah let's just say, if you're lucky, you will never hear me rap …" Jay snorted and leaned against the railing next to me, "He's the one who taught me to play the guitar and who got me my camera. We made music videos with it all of the time. He's got some awesome editing software that makes them really cool. And part of our basement is a recording studio of sorts."

"And Marda – or Mars – was adopted right after I was when she was six. She was born blind, so a lot of people didn't know what to do with her, but once you get to know her – or at least spend thirty seconds with her – you'll know she's just a normal girl. Well except for the whole lack of sight thing …"

"So she's really independent?"

I gave him a you-really-just-asked-me-that-question look before answering, "Yeah. She can walk around our house like a normal 'seeing person' as she puts it. If she's out in public, then you can just give her a cane and she's good. She really amazing on the piano too; Rebel and I know enough about reading music and the piano to help her learn new songs. Once she learns a song though, she almost never forgets it. Mars is getting really excited because she's getting a Service Dog soon. I think she's naming the dog Lollypop or Lolly for short; she picked out the name herself."

"Why'd she name her dog after a candy treat?"

"So she could sing 'Lollypop, lollypop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly, lollypop' to call her dog." We both started laughing.

"Your family sounds…" he trailed off, trying to think of the correct adjective.

"Crazy? Insane? Incredibly-"

"Amazing."

I studied his face for a moment before saying, "I was going to say 'crazy' again, but amazing works too."

We stood in silence for a few minutes before Jay asked, "Do you want to know why I was such a rude … bastard when you first met me?"

"I- yeah, kind of."

He looked at me.

"Okay, yes I'm curious."

He took a deep breath, "you know sometimes I was jealous of kids like you, who never got to know their parents."

I stared at him, dumbstruck.

"Yeah I know, that's a horrible thought … but my family … God Keys I wish I could have a family like yours …"

I found my voice long enough to utter one word, "Why?"

"We were poor, and any money my dad managed to get went to booze. And my own mother rarely acknowledged my existence. She'd give me left overs, scraps really, most of the time. And I guess my father ignored me most of the time too, but that was for the best … when he did notice me it was for something he needed; he treated me like a slave sometimes. Although usually him noticing me would result in him beating me …"

I stared at him with a mixture of shock and horror. I didn't know what to say.

"I finally left when I was sixteen. It was like I had tunnel vision or something. The only thing I could think about was getting out of that house and staying out. All of the time, that's all I could think about. I had to get a job and keep so I had enough money to pay my rent so I could stay out off the streets and out of their house. That's all I cared about. I guess that's what made me so rude to people – my drive to get out and stay out, and that nobody's ever really cared about me before."

"I-" I paused, "I've heard stories of bad family lives but they've never…" _Never been from someone I've cared about._ I couldn't say it out loud, I just couldn't. "I've just – I don't … I don't know what to say …"

"That's okay," he gave me a weak smile, "It helps to just tell people, you know?"

"Personally? No. But I understand what you mean." I gave him a weak smile back. "But uh … I do have a one question…"

"Shoot."

"Why- This might sound kind of mean so don't take it the wrong way, but what made you change? I mean … why are you not so …"

"Rude?" he supplied. I nodded. He looked out over the ship railing, thinking for a moment, "I guess I found something else to care about. You know, more than the money."

I raised an eyebrow, "More than the money?! What 'something' did you find that you care about more than the money that'll keep you-"

Jay interrupted me, "It's more like I found some_one_ to care about." His gaze locked with mine.

_He's not saying …_ But then his eyes shifted, he wasn't looking at me anymore; he was looking behind me. His face looked worried and full of fear. "Jay? What's wrong?"

"Pirates."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Cliff hanger I know ... Please don't hurt me ...**

**Did you like Kisa and Jay's little heart-to-heart? Hope so!**

**Kisa kind of acts like a witch with a b (if you know what I mean) in the beginning here, but she's just really confused about her feelings about Jay.**

**I just realized that the end of this is kind of like the end of 'I See the Light' in Tangled... *Shrugs* Oh well that's an awesome movie so I don't care!**

**So what do you think of Kisa's family? (Her family is _not_ based off of my family.) Personally my favorite sibling of Kisa's is Marda. =) I made both of them up so obviously I like them both buuut I like Marda just a little bit more. Biased on the descriptions of them which sibling do you like best?**

**Stay tuned for my next chapter!**

**I love reviews so please leave one! (I'm not going to hold my story hostage if you don't review but pleeeeeeease leave one anyway!) You can critique my work as well but please no flames.**

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me.**

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	14. Chapter 13

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Thirteen

My brain reeled, _did he say pirates?!_

"What?" I finally spat out as I spun around. Sure enough, there was a ship following close behind us; it was flying a blood red Jolly Roger.

"Pirates!" He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me away from the railing to the middle of the deck, "stay here."

Jay went back and leaned against the railing, crossing his arms and ankles, with his head tilted ever so slightly to the side. He was looking through his peripheral vision at the pirate's ship. I realized the Pirates wouldn't be able to see him very easily with him standing parallel to the railing. "Go wake up Jim and Raphaelle." I looked at him, "its Rosa's ship."

I didn't question him. I ran up to the captain's quarters and pounded on the door with both fists, "Raphaelle! Jim! Wake up! Pirates!" I shrieked.

Moments later the door flew open, both Jim and Raphaelle stood with their robes hanging open, staring at me as if I'd spurted a second head. Morph was perched on Jim's shoulder, looking groggy with only one eye opened.

"Rosa's coming." Was all I had to say.

"Let's get below deck." Jim grabbed his wife's hand who in turn grabbed my wrist; we made our way below deck like that, as a human chain with Morph following after.

Jay had gone ahead of us and woken up the crew. We all gathered together in the middle of the room, sitting on hammocks, boxes, and the floor. And every single one of us was in our pajamas. I took my place between Raphaelle and Jay on a box, but I keep looking at everyone and how calm they all were. My heart was racing a mile a minute!

"What good will this do?! I mean they'll just find us when they board and-"

"Shh!" Raphaelle reached across her body and placed her hand over my mouth. Jay reached down and took my hand in his. I sighed inwardly as my best friend removed her hand. I gave Jay's hand a squeeze.

We all sat in silence for a few minutes before we heard it, eight thumps, one after another, as if metal were digging into wood. I knew enough about pirates to know the sound must have been grappling hooks digging into the side of our ship. A softer thump followed them and if I had to guess, it was probably a plank of some sort.

Footsteps thumped, scampered, and slinked about above our heads. I tilted my head and rolled my eyes up to glance at the ceiling.

"Find them!" a low deep voice called from above, I had to strain my ears to hear it.

"Rosa." Someone whispered. My eyes widened in fear.

"Why aren't they coming down-" Raphaelle covered my mouth with her hand again.

"I made the door invisible. Think of it like a force field." Austin stood behind me and whispered in my ear. _Makes sense … I guess_. I was willing to believe anything that could make the pirates leave sooner.

CRAAAAAAAACK!

We all jumped to our feet as a body went tumbling down the stairs head over heels like a ragdoll. Morph flew and hid in Raphaelle's long strawberry blond hair. My eyes widened and my breathing quickened as more adrenalin pumped through my veins.

"It's Captain Rosa!" Iris yelled, wide eyed. Her hair and eyes were turning green from fear.

"He must have been leaning against the door!" Austin yelped. The others jumped up; Gabriel and Jay pinned the captain's arms behind his back, but I was too busy noticing that his left glove had fallen off and his now gloveless hand was small, disproportionate and … feminine compared to rest of his body.

I remembered that Raphaelle was an artist; she should be able to see it as well. Gently, I jabbed her side with my elbow, "look at his left hand." I whispered, "It's disproportionate."

She nodded, "Yeah, it is," she whispered back.

"GET!-" Rosa attempted to yell, but his voice came out as a yelp, he coughed several times before screaming to be let up in much deeper voice. I look at Raphaelle. Raphaelle looked back at me.

I whispered in her ear, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"If you're thinking about what's weird about Rosa, then yes I am." She whispered back.

"I'm going to try something …" I walked over to where Rosa was pinned to the floor, screaming.

He wore a long coat with bulky shoulders, long brown pants that had a tint of purple and tall boots. It was all topped off with a large pirate hat … which had somehow stayed on his head.

I knelt down on my hunches and silently stared into Rosa's eyes, he stopped screaming. We held each other's gaze silently for a moment. Suddenly, in a quick move of my hand, I reached out and wrapped my fingers around his gray beard. I pulled. The beard came off in my hands.

A very young, very feminine face stared back at me.

I reached up with my free hand and pulled the captain's hat off. Bobby-pins holding both hair and hat in place detangled and a torrent of long brunette curls tumbled around her face.

"The great Captain Rosa is a woman." I whispered.

Rosa looked up and spit in my face. I stood up quickly, dropping the fake beard to the floor while wiping the spit off my face with my other arm, I stumbled backwards and right into something hard. I half turned around and looked up. I'd stumbled back right into some_one_.

Two arms wrapped around me. _Really?! Again?!_ I tried to kick the pirate who held me but he let go and slid to my side; my kick hit nothing but air. Before I could move again, the pirate grabbed my left arm while a different pirate materialized next to me, grabbing my right arm. I tried again to kick them but they held me firm.

"Hey!" I glanced over; Raphaelle was in the same predicament that I was. _Oh this is not good!_ Morph flew from her hair to the pocket in her robe. And then the knives were at our throats.

"No!" Jim screamed as he leapt to his feet, "Let them go!" It was clear from his voice and his posture that he was livid.

"How 'bout a trade then me boy?" an older alien pirate asked, a smirk on his face. More and more of Rosa's crew appeared out of nowhere, my heart quickened as I recognized some of the members. Every pirate who had attempted to kidnap me, with the exception of Andy, was there.

The older pirate spoke again, "So how 'bout it? Our beloved Cap'n for your beloved wife an' the girl?"

My brain froze; I wanted to be let go. I did not want my throat slit and I did not want to be kidnapped by Rosa's crew for real. I glanced between Jim and Jay with wide, scared eyes.

"No Jim! Don't do it!" Raphaelle yelled; she held eye contact with her husband.

_Yes!_ I screamed in my head, but even through the fear I knew this could very well be a trap.

"Okay." Jim glared at the old pirate, "you have a deal."

Our crew hesitated but they let Rosa go. Within seconds more of her crew surrounded us, some descended the stairs while others literally dropped from the rafters. They grabbing Jim and everyone else pinning them down on the ground.

"You know," Jay grunted, his face pressed down onto the floor by a pirate's foot, "we really should have seen this coming…"

Jennifer, who was also pinned to the ground but without a foot holding her face down, tilted her head up and looked at Jay, "Gee, ya think?" her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Rosa chuckled and stood up, brushing herself off, and addressed her crewmen, "nice work boys." _So they obviously knew she was woman! _

She looked at the lot of us and laughed pitifully, "You're all a bunch of children! I can't believe my Alex lost to a lot like you!"

"_Your_ Alex?" Nerita questioned.

"Yes," Rosa turned to face the scaly girl, "He was mine," she raised her voice; "until _some people_ had him lock away!" she looked between Jim and Raphaelle, glaring at them.

"So you …" Angela paused, "love him?" her face twisted in disgust.

"Yes," the female captain spun again, "I do love him! And now I cannot see him again!" she stomped her foot in a very childish manner. My eyes caught Jay's and he raised an eyebrow as if to say 'did that really just happen?' I rolled my eyes to signal 'yes'.

"And cue gagging noses!" Jennifer muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"And what is so disgusting about that?" Rosa marched up to Jen, knelt down and grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling her head up, "anyone can love."

"So … who did he really love? Rosa or Raphaelle?" Iris spoke up, talking more to herself than to anyone in particular. The cat girl's hair was released and the captain marched over to Iris and demanded to know what she meant by "her little statement".

"Well … Alex was always trying to kidnap Raphaelle-"

"That means nothing! Stockholm Syndrome isn't that common."

"It was not Stockholm Syndrome." Raphaelle stated, "He loved me, _not_ the other way around."

"He loves me!" she stomped her foot again and screamed so load that it echoed in the shocked silence that followed her outburst.

"Someone's in denial…" I didn't realize I had spoken aloud until Rosa was hovering over me.

"I am not in denial!" my eyes widened at her; she chuckled, "Well aren't you cute when you're scared?" she grabbed a strand of my short blond hair and let it run through her fingers. "You see," she started in a calm voice, "there's a reason that I wanted to kidnap you.

"You're from the same planet as my Alex," (Seriously I swear I would have puked on her if she'd have said that one more time! And from the look on my best friend's face I wasn't alone…) "that could come in handy if he ever wanted to get home. Of course then there's the whole favor he asked of me."

"Favor?" Raphaelle perked up, "What favor?"

Rosa stayed by me but turned to gaze at Raphaelle with disdain, "To destroy the ruins that lead – or should I say led – to your home world."

"I remember you now!" Raphaelle exclaimed. "You were part of his crew! I can just barely remember you being there. But how are you not in jail? All the crew members were sentenced to life in prison."

"Alex had me hide away should he get captured. He didn't think it would happen, but he always had an emergency back-up plan. This time it was me. He helped me to escape, because he _loved me_!"

She turned back to me, "Anyway, as I was saying; and then there's the whole you being best friends with Raphaelle back on your planet. You see, they took what was most precious to me. Now I'm going to take what's most precious to them."

"But she didn't have anything to do with any of this!" Raphaelle screamed.

"You don't want her, you want us!" Jim chimed in.

"You're logic is messed up." Everyone turned to Jay, "I mean you love a guy who probably doesn't love you back, you're trying to kidnap a girl who has nothing to do with your love life. You know what? _None_ of us have anything to do with your love life!" He paused, "So why are you here again? Besides the whole revenge thing I mean."

"That's the only reason I'm here." She sneered.

"And how did you find us again?!"

"With my help." We all turned, a tall figure stood in the doorway at the top of the steps.

"Andy?!" We all gasped. Jay let loose a string of swear words directed at Andy.

"But … but you were arrested!" I stammered.

He walked the steps and shrugged his shoulders, "I escaped; no big deal or anything."

"And you lead them here!?" I gasped, "why?!"

"'Cause she's my Captain and she asked me to."

"How did you escape?" Jim questioned.

"Easy," Andy walked toward Rosa and I, "I made a deal."

Rosa spun on him, "you did what?!" she hissed.

"I. Made. A. Deal."

"With who?!"

"It's 'whom' and with Amelia Doppler."

I swear I thought Rosa was going to deck him, that's how red her face was, but she kept her balled fists by her side. "Too bad my crew outnumbers her."

"Not with half the Intergalactic Police out there with her you don't."

"Crew!" She snapped, "knock 'em out!" But every crew member below deck was holding onto someone, so in order to knock us out they had to release their hold on us. Big mistake. The second the pirate on my left let go, I elbowed him in the nose before punching the other pirate in the face. They went down; one unconscious and the other cupping his now bleeding nose.

I watched Raphaelle roundhouse kick her second captor to the ground on top of her first. Jim, Jay and Austin were already free, Angela nailed her captor in the face with her metal arm, and her boyfriend spread his wings to help distract his captors. Iris and Jen knocked their captors into each other while Nerita and Adelaide did the same. Andy tried to grab Rosa but she flipped him to the floor and made a break for the door.

We all ran after her only to see her standing a yard from Amelia, both had their laser guns drawn and trained on each other. Everyone froze where they stood.

"Drop it Rosa!" Amelia barked the order.

"Never!" Rose screamed.

None of us were breathing.

Then a thought occurred to me, "if you're arrested you'll go to the same prison as Alex." All eyes fixed on me, but I kept going, "if you go there then you'll be able to see him every day." I could see Rosa debating it in her head, I racked my brain for other ideas, "And … and you could finally be with him forever and for always." The gun lowered halfway, Amelia quickly holstered her gun, walked up to Rosa and grabbed the gun from her hands.

Jim ran over and pinned her arms behind her back while Amelia read her her rights. Andy was right; half of the Intergalactic Police were there to escort Rosa's crew away as well.

"I guess we should all thank Andy, hu?" Raphaelle asked as the last of Rosa's crew was boarded on the Intergalactic Police's ship. Morph had finally come out of her pocket; she tickled him under his chin. He purred at her.

"Yeah…" I mumbled, staring at my feet, "I guess…"

Raphaelle, Jay, and I walked over to Andy who simply turned and said, "She does know she won't be seeing him often if at all right?"

We couldn't help but laugh, "I don't know, I just said the first thing that popped into my mind. I'm surprised it made sense actually …"

After we thanked Andy, he explained why he had taken the job with Rosa in the first place. I glanced over at Jay; it was the polar opposite of his story.

"I'm sorry I kidnapped you. I was just desperate to get the money to help my family," he apologized, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hey Andy," I called after him as he turned to leave with Amelia, "next time, find a legal job to help support your family!" I let the corners of my mouth lift slightly.

"That shouldn't be too hard, considering Captain Doppler here offered me a job this morning!" He called back, waving goodbye and flashing me his brilliant smile.

_I hope everything works out for him,_ I thought to myself.

We bid them farewell; it was time to continue our journey.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Well I guess I'm less busy then I thought I was going to be ... Yay? **

**Anyway I really like this chapter and I hope you all did too! (Hey! It's lucky number ****thirteen! No wonder I liked it so much! - I actually like the number thirteen ... I'm just weird I guess. (: ) **

**Isn't Captain Rosa just lovely? (She says sarcastically.) When I was writing her all I could picture was spoiled four-year-old in an adult's body ... So she was fun to write! xD (Am I the only person who's noticed that I like writing the bad, jerky, annoying, etc characters?) - I named her Captain Rosa onpurpose. For those of you who don't know 'rosa' is pink in German and in Spanish (and maybe other languages too, I don't know). **

**I had the idea for Captain Rosa and her being in love with Alex original but ****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid added the part where Rosa was part of Alex's crew. I really liked it and thought it fit well into both stories. (Well her saga and my story). **

******Oh and I would not be able to talk someone into dropping their weapon ... I can't think that quickly on my feet for one thing ... I'd be ssooo scared for another thing ... **

******So Andy's not such a bad guy! I can't remember who came with that ... if it was me or ****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid ... Well one of us did, do you like it? **

**********Alright I'm done uploading for the night. I'll get a chapter at some point tomorrow (hopefully...). **

**I love reviews so please leave one! You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me. **

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by ****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	15. Chapter 14

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Fourteen

I sighed and attempted to lean on my mop the way I'd seen Jay do in the past, but I nearly fell flat on my face. I stood up and looked around, embarrassed; thank God no one had been pay attention to me. Sighing again, I walked over and leaned against the railing of the ship. I closed my eyes, gripped the railing, leaned back and turned my head to the rear of the ship, letting the wind blow through my short blond hair. I smiled a welcoming smile into the wind; it felt so good!

"Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?"

My eyes flew open and I stood up straight; Raphaelle was standing in front of me with her arms across her chest and a look of worry written on her face. It was the afternoon after our pirate encounter and I'd spent most of it in my make shift room, away from everyone else. No wonder Raphaelle was worried.

I sighed, "a lot."

"I've got time." She gave me a smile. I couldn't help it; I let my barriers down slightly, letting my fear and sadness show through. She opened her arms out and I walked over; she wrapped me in a hug, "Come on. Let's go somewhere private to talk." She whispered into my hair.

We ended up in the Captain's quarters sitting atop the covers of the queen size bed.

"What's wrong Kisa?" my friend's voice was quiet and full of concern.

I looked at the plain covers as I fiddled with my angel pendent, "I-" I paused, "I guess …" I looked up, "I'm scared Raphaelle…"

She looked concern and as if she were trying to think of the right words to say, but I didn't wait. I was afraid that if she started talking I wouldn't be able to finish what I needed to say, "I'm just scared. I've almost been kidnapped four times now! _Four times Raphaelle_!" my eyes filled with tears, "I've never had anyone attempt to kidnap me before!" a few tears escaped my eyes but I quickly brought up a hand to wipe them away.

"It's just … all last night I was lying awake in bed wondering one thing; why the hell am I even here to begin with?!" I sighed in frustration and flopped backward onto the bed. I stared at the ceiling for a moment before Raphaelle spoke.

"You know, when I first came here I sometimes I wondered the same thing myself …" I propped myself up on one elbow and looked at her. She was sitting cross-legged, resting her elbow on her knee and her chin in her palm as she stared out the window. She seemed lost in thought. Then she broke out of her trance and looked at me.

"But then I realized I'm here for a reason. I think we're all are here for a reason. You, me, even Alex." She chuckled, "Kind of like Narnia I guess."

"Narnia?" I questioned, not understanding her meaning.

"Well, all the children who went to Narnia were sent there to learn a valuable lesson of some sort," she explained.

"So what _are_ our reasons for being here?" I asked quietly as I sat back up.

"Well … I think Alex was sent here to get justice, to pay for all the horrible things he's ever done. He's going to be in prison for the rest of his life, contemplating all the horrible things he's ever said and done to everyone he's ever met. That's a lesson in itself. I believe I was sent here to find Jim, and to get the chance to have a happy life. I didn't have that opportunity back on Earth. I think I was meant to find love. And you," she looked me in the eyes, "I think you were sent here to find someone as well." Her gaze shifted back to the window. I followed it; just outside of it, Jim and Jay were playing chess again.

Jay was concentrating on the match so hard he failed to notice Gabriel, who was standing right behind him. Suddenly, Gabriel reached around Jay, plucked one of his pieces from the board, and moved it to a different square. Jim looked like he was going to burst out laughing and Jay quickly put the piece back before turning around to yell at Gabriel, who simply laughed.

_No. She doesn't mean …_ I sighed inwardly, _yep she means Jay …_

"You know what?" I fell back again, "I'm too tired to argue."

I heard her softly mutter, "Uh hu." But I pretended not to hear. _Why am I not arguing with her again?_ I honestly didn't know … or did I?

* * *

I lay in bed that night, staring at the hull of the ship. I kept thinking about what Raphaelle had said that day. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but I couldn't get the picture of Jay concentrating so hard on the chess match out of my head. _He looked kinda cute … Wait. What?_ I could feel my face flush; _did I really just think that?!_ I had.

My mind drifted back to the kiss he'd given me on the cheek and to the one I'd given him. _I can't win, can I? …_ My mind always seemed to be drifting back to those kisses.

Finally I rolled over, closed my eyes, and drifted to sleep. Surprisingly I fell asleep quickly; I guess that's what happens when you haven't slept in almost 32 hours.

The next morning, I crawled out of bed when everyone else began getting ready for breakfast. It wasn't until that moment that I realized it was my turn to make the morning meal. I threw off my t-shirt and shorts and replaced them with my pants, blouse, and boots.

I raced out of the bunks and into the kitchen. I franticly started pulling out a mixing bowl, a spoon, some eggs, and some milk before I heard a voice say, "You don't need to cook, Kisa. We're going into town this morning."

I twirled, "Raphaelle?! Jeez! Don't scare me like that!" My strawberry blonde friend was sitting at the kitchen table, sketching in her sketch book.

She looked up and smiled at me, "you can still have your pancakes if you want."

I rolled my eyes, "you know me too well, Ariel."

She grinned, "Yes I do, Melody."

* * *

"Why do restaurant pancakes taste so good?" I asked as Jay and I strolled down the bustling streets of this planet's market.

"I don't know and for the last time, I really don't care." He answered in a somewhat exasperated tone, "I wanna know why Jim and Raphaelle are making us go grocery shopping."

"Because we're kinda the cooks most of the time." I told him in a 'duh' tone of voice. We were docked at the planet and resting for a day. Jim said we could use the day however we liked, so long as we picked up a few items in town first.

He sighed, "how about after this we use the rest of our free time to have a little fun?"

I stopped dead in my tracks, "what do you mean by 'have a little fun'?" I asked uneasily.

Jay laughed at my tone, "Chill! We won't do anything bad or illegal!"

I had a horrible feeling on the subject of what Jay thought of as 'fun', but I decided to go along with it for the time being.

An hour later I was regretting my previous choice.

The cabin boy stood in front of me with a Solar Surfer standing up next to him like it was a surf board. Where he had gotten it, I didn't know. We stood on a deserted cliff with the planet's ocean flowing below us.

"These are fun!" Jay smiled starting up the Surfer.

"Yeah until they crash!" I loved heights and the thought of soaring in the sky, not quite as much as I wished I could breathe underwater. But the thought of a board and two people in the sky … it seemed unstable and I do not do unstable. "I mean, where did you even get this thing?!"

"I rented it. Now come on," he started up the Surfer and climbed on, pulling me up after him. I quickly wrapped my arms around his waist; I was not going to fall off!

"Jay!" I attempted to sound strict but my voice came out in a more fearful tone. "I don't think this is such a good idea!" but I was speaking as he hit the accelerator, so 'idea' came out as a scream.

A moment later we were soaring high in the sky. I felt wobbly and off balance as Jay sped up, even though the board was stable under my feet. I squeezed Jay's waist harder and buried my face into his back, repeating "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," like a mantra that might make this whole situation disappear.

"Just chill out, Keys." He called back, "I promise you, we are not going to crash or fall." I lifted up my head and opened my eyes, loosening my grip on his waist. "There you go. See, this is fun."

I glanced down and saw how small the world looked below us. _Cool_! And that wind … oh, it felt so amazing pressing on my face and running it's invisible fingers though my hair. It reminded me of all the four-wheeler rides my dad had given Mars, Rebel and me through the years.

"Haha!" I couldn't help but laugh into the wind. With my eyes closed, it was almost like I was on a four-wheeler. Except my arms were around someone's waist, we were floating in the air, and I could hear waves splashing instead of the purring motor of a four-wheeler. Well, I did say _almost_.

"See?!" Jay laughed, "I told you this is fun!"

"Alright, so maybe it's a _little_ fun," I said, not wanting to admit that I loved it.

"Liar!" he accused in a playful tone and I laughed at him.

So maybe I was enjoying myself more than I was letting on … it that really a bad thing?

Apparent it was. A few minutes later, a sickening pop echoed in my ears. The pop was followed by Jay swearing. Which was followed by us free-falling. We were a good hundred feet above the water. If a belly flop from a three meter high diving board hurt, a fall that from our height would feel like hitting concrete.

I started to scream. Jay joined in. We continued to fall.

He stopped screaming and yelled, "We need to slow down!"

"Gee ya think?!" I screamed back.

Jay seemed to think for a minute, "Grab onto the railing and whatever you do, don't let go!"

"Why on _Earth_ would I _let go_?!" my rhetorical question stayed unanswered as I grabbed the railing with both hands.

Suddenly, he flipped the board, and we were falling sidewise. We kept a strong grip on the railing, our bodies were dangling in the air. I started screaming again. But we were slowing down. The sail on the Surfer was bellowing out like a parasail. _No way! Something like this only works in the movies! … Oh, wait …. _

"Let go!" Jay yelled when we were a few meters from the surface; I did as commanded, despite my instincts telling me not to, and hit the water with a splash.

The impact wasn't very painful, but the water was colder than I'd expected it to be. I surfaced and drew a breath, my chest ached when I inhaled; I was close to hyperventilating. I treaded water and tried to stay calm.

Jay, who had landed a few feet next to me, surfaced and climbed onto the board before pulling me up. "You okay?" He asked.

"You mean besides that we almost just fell to our deaths and the freezing water and me not being able to breathe in said freezing water? Yeah, besides that, I'm fantastic. You?"

He nodded, "I'm good."

I hugged my knees to my chest, shivering like crazy while Jay sat cross legged next to me.

"Please tell me you didn't do that on purpose…" I mumbled into my legs.

"Of course not!" he snapped, "what makes you think I would do something like that on purpose?!"

I just shrugged, and we continued to sit there in silence. The board was slowly floating towards the shore, so we let it carry us. When we were close enough to jump off and stand, we did so. Even in waist deep water it was difficult to breathe. I helped Jay pull the Surfer to shore before slumping down on the sand.

"Let's never do that ever again…"

"Deal." He said as he sat down beside me with his knees up, staring at the water.

_Well… it looks like we're walking back …_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I doubt that the parasailing idea would work even in a movie... But hey it's my fanfic sooooo it worked. **

**I'm really tired for some reason today (I might be getting a cold ... yay ... not.) so I'm going to make this short ... sorry ... I wasn't going to post but then I figured I should so here goes:**

******PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid suggested the Narnia idea and I think it works well. I like Kisa reactions to any Jay related, don't you? **  


******As for the Solar Surfing ****accident, I wanted there to be at least one scene with a Solar Surfer and then this came to mind. (I don't remember how or why ...) Have any of you jumped into a reeeealy cold lake or ocean before? I won't recommend it ... When I swam in the summers with my Club team we'd a lake swim once a year. It was usually the beginning of July at seven in the morning ... the water was so cold my chest would hurt and I couldn't swim across so I ended up doggy-paddling the whole way ... So that's where Kisa's almost-panic attack stems from ... (By the way that doesn't happen to everyone ... a lot of kids jumped in and started swimming right away ... How? I have no idea ...) **

**Well I think that's it for this chapter ... I probably forgot to mention something ... I usually do ... *Shrugs* Oh well. **

**I love reviews so please leave one! You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me. **

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by ****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	16. Chapter 15

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Fifteen

Jay and I walked with the Solar Surfer over our heads as if it were a canoe. We were on a sandy path away from the market and along the cliff's edge. The cliff continued up next to us on our right and to our left was a rope railing and a drop off to the ocean.

I was walking behind Jay so all I could see was the back of his sandy blond hair. _His hair is getting kind of long _… It must have been only a half inch shorter than my own.

"There it is." I snapped out of my stupor and followed Jay's finger. _There what is?_ I thought, embracing my inner blond. Then I saw it; the surf shop.

The surf shop was a stereotypical surf hut; small and square with a tin roof. Someone could walk up and rent a surfer at the big sliding glass window. The 'Solar Surf Shop' was hung in big, bulky, white letters with red outlines above the small shack. The shop looked presentable enough.

Jay walked right up to the window and pounded on it. "Hey!" he shouted, "open up!"

An alien slid the window open; he was a head with two arms. He reminded me of the female alien from Treasure Planet, but with a masculine face and short dark brown bread.

Upon seeing Jay he glared and spat out, "You again? What you want now?! You couldn't possibly be done with that board yet!"

He snorted, "The Surfer you rented me? Yeah it's broken!"

"What you mean, broken? I do not rent broken Surfers! It's bad for business!"

"Well, we were out surfing and there was a loud 'pop' and we started falling!" Jay sneered. "That ocean water was fricken cold!"

"I noticed." The alien said in a dry voice, "your girl there," he nodded to me, "she shivering like crazy!"

Jay half turned and looked over his shoulder at me. I had been shivering since landing in the water but I wouldn't say I was 'shivering like crazy'. All the same, I watched as the cabin boy shrugged off his jacket and held it out to me while he glared at the Surf Shop worker.

"It's okay Jay, I'm-"

"Just take it Kisa." His voice was hard, so I decided not to argue and took the jacket and put it on. It didn't help much since it had gone under the water as well, but the thought was nice. Or it would have been if Jay wasn't pissed and on the verge of yelling at the alien who had rented out the busted board.

"Look you," Jay hissed as he turned to face the alien, "Just admit you rented me a phony board, give me my money back and we'll be on our way. Deal?"

"No deal. Me no rent 'phony' boards as you say!"

"Well then explain to me why it popped and we fell!" I blinked in the almost echoing silence that followed Jay's screaming. He closed his eyes, sighed and opened them again, "Okay fine. Don't believe me, whatever. But don't blame me when some other customer rents the board and crash lands into the side of a cliff. I doubt you'll get any customers after that." The cabin boy spun on his heels, grabbed my wrist and began pulling me away, "Come on Kisa. Let's get back to the ship."

"Ship?" the renter called after us, "And which ship be yours, lad and lassie?"

Jay stopped so short that I ran into his back, without turning around he answered. I could practically hear him smirking, "_The Journey_."

He gasped, "That be Captain Hawkins' ship!"

"Why yes it is."

"Come back! Come back!" we walked back to window, "fine! I take look at your board!" he jumped down, dragging the board behind him.

I turned to Jay, "So just because Jim is our Captain means we get free rein?"

"No, but everyone knows about Jim and Raphaelle. They found _Treasure Planet_, Keys!"

"Look Kitchen Boy-"

"I'm not a kitchen boy! … At least, not anymore!" he argued.

"No, but you randomly started calling me 'Keys', so now I'm going to call you 'Kitchen Boy'. Deal?"

"Fine." He rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, why does knowing them change anything?"

He shrugged, "for a lot of people I guess it wouldn't."

"But? …" I pressed for more.

"_But_ this guy's cousin was part of Silver's crew on that expedition! Meaning this guy will do _anything_ to stay out of jail."

"Why would he go to jail?"

"'Cause he was part of that crew. He just didn't go on the expedition."

"Why?- Wait! How do you know all of this?!"

He smirked at me, "'Cause I'm just that good, Sweetheart."

I punched his arm, hard. "A.) Do not call me 'Sweetheart'. B.) That is not a reason, and C.) what the hell is the real reason?!"

He sighed, "A.) Fine. B.) Fine, and C.) I used to work in a kitchen, and before that I worked in a different kitchen. The staff knows Keys, the staff always knows."

I rolled my eyes and decided not to press him farther; he was not going to give me a straight answer.

The alien appeared in the window once more with a wad of cash in one of his hands. "Board's busted..." he mumbled as he handed Jay the money.

"Thank you." Jay swiped the cash from the alien's hand and walked away. I gave the alien an apologetic smile, turned, and ran after him.

We continued to walk to the ship in silence. Despite that fact that the sun was setting, we had plenty of time before Jim wanted us back to the ship. The days were terribly short on this planet. After a few minutes I remembered that I was still wearing Jay's oversized jacket. I started to pull it off and hand it to him but he held up a hand, "keep it till we get back to the ship."

"O-okay …" I mumbled and stuck my arm back though the sleeve. We continued walking. We had walked like this before, me wearing his jacket and us walking in silence. And the next morning I had woken up and he was sleeping on my floor … I almost smiled at the memory. Then he kissed my cheek. And later that week I kissed his … I could feel my blush growing.

"What are you blushing about?" I jumped at the question.

"N-nothing!" he gave me a really?-look, I looked away, "j-just the … um … kisses …" I mumbled the last word as quietly as I could to the ground.

"What? I didn't catch that last part."

"I was just thinking about the kisses!" I almost shouted; this time I know my blush was clear across my face.

To my surprise, Jay blushed and looked away as well, "W-well …" he stuttered and was at a loss for words. _Oh God, this is gonna be awkward, isn't it?! _

"I only kissed you 'cause … 'cause …" He rubbed the back of his neck, still not meeting my eyes. Not that I was exactly trying to meet his eyes either. "'Cause you looked …" the rest of his sentence was mumbled and inaudible.

"What?" I looked up at him.

He turned to me and said quickly, "'Cause you looked so … so cute!" I blinked at him. His face was red and as his words set in, I could feel mine turning crimson.

"So you …" I glanced away; I couldn't say what I was about to say while looking at him. It was too awkward! "You like me?" he didn't answer. I took his silence as a yes.

Then a thought occurred to me "Why?" I asked, "What do you see in my anyway? It's not like I'm model material or anything," I rolled my eyes as I said 'model material'.

"Well, no, you're definitely not a model." _Ouch_, "And I'll admit, when I first met you, I thought you were too scrawny," Jay replied.

"Gee, thanks," I muttered sarcastically as I scowled at the ground_. I guess scrawny is better than fat …_

"I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that-" Jay tried to backtrack quickly, glancing at me before looking away again.

"I get it," I stopped him; my voice was colder than I'd meant it to be.

Jay finally looked me straight in the eye, a strange mix of hopelessness and frustration in his eyes.

"You know why I was always so mean to you?" he asked seriously. His question was out of the blue.

"You said you were mean to everyone, 'cause you were too focused on getting away from your family," I replied, a little confused. (Okay, okay, a _lot_ confused!)

"Yes, that's true. But I was particularly mean to you," Jay answered.

I stared at him, waiting for him to continue. He stared back out at the ocean.

"I was always rude because from the moment I saw you, I knew what kind of girl you were. You're naive, and too trusting, and just completely oblivious about the real world. "

I frowned and tried to think of a comeback, but he continued before I could speak.

"But then I got to know you, and I realized there was so much more to you than that. You're also fun-loving, silly, sarcastic, brave, and a lot more prepared for the world than I thought. And you just – you just found a way to get under my skin. I can't really explain it well, but I didn't like that feeling. And while I was trying to find a way to keep you from getting under my skin, I found myself starting to care about you."

I looked Jay in the eyes as he turned back to me. A water drop dripped from his wet hair. I looked back and forth between his eyes, wondering what expression was going through mine.

"And I-I think you care about me too. But you won't show it, because you know you have to go back home," he said. I swallowed as he voiced the feelings that I had been trying so hard to bury.

"But I know that a part of you doesn't want to leave." He whispered.

Something inside me snapped out of anger, probably from feeling so exposed. "What do you mean, a part of me doesn't want to leave?!" I snapped.

"It's just … you don't … You love Raphaelle like a sister and you get along well with everyone else. I know you want to see your family, but-"

"But you can't understand it because you never got along with your family?!" I said spitefully. I was just barely keeping myself from yelling.

"No that's not it!"

"Then what did you mean?!" This time I did yell.

Lightning flashed across the sky. I felt a rain drop hit the tip of my nose as I glared up at Jay. A soft swishing noise came from behind us. Slowly, we turned and saw a wall of pouring rain heading straight toward us.

We temporarily forgot our argument as we turned to run; we made it a couple of feet before the wall of rain overtook us. Once again, we were soaked to the bone. Jay pulled me under a random porch of a seemingly empty house nearby.

After letting the realization of what happened sink in, I turned to the boy standing next to me.

"What did you mean by that?" this time I didn't yell; in fact my voice came out weak and tired. It wasn't until that moment that I realized how tired I was. A lot had happened that day. It was around six in the evening but the sun was setting and the rain was pouring; it felt like it was ten o'clock p.m., and all I wanted was to sleep.

"I was going to say, but what about your friends? Aren't we all family too?" I stared at him, "Friends can be like family. That's what I've learned from my years of being away from my biological family."

"So you're saying that by going home to my family, I'm leaving a family behind?! That's just … that's just … I have to go home, okay!"

"Will you miss us?"

"Yes!" I started yelling again, "Yes, of course; I'll miss you all!" I felt tears start to well up in my eyes, "I'm going to miss you all so much! You don't think that I want to leave you all? I just wanna go home to the first people who ever wanted me!"

"Wasn't Raphaelle the first person who ever wanted to be with you? She's been your best friend for years." I blinked back tears. "That's why a part of you doesn't want to leave, because the two of you were so close in the orphanage."

"Stop it…" I whispered.

"Just admit it Kisa! You want to stay but you're afraid to leave your family. You're afraid they'll what? Replace you if you leave? So what? We're all here and-"

This time the tears fell, "SHUT UP!" I screamed at him. The tears kept falling and for the first time I didn't care. "JUST SHUT UP!" I placed my hands on his chest and gave him a shove. He didn't move, so I just stood there, my hands on his chest with my head looking down at the porch floor, "You don't know anything! She left without so much as a good-bye, and I was hurt! I was her best friend and she didn't say good-bye and no one seemed to care and-" the tears fell harder. I hiccupped as I tried to speak through them, "I-I-I was upset an-and I ended up here and- I f-found her a-and I was s-s-so ha-happy! B-but I m-miss my family s-so mu-much!" I sat down, I was crying too hard to continue standing.

"I-I want e-everyon-one to be to-together bu-but that's no-not possible! S-so now I-I'm confused a-and I don't know w-where my heart i-is! I ju-just want e-everyone to b-be happy!" I buried my face in my hands and cried. I let all of my fear and anger melt away with those tears. I hadn't even realized I was upset with Raphaelle until I let the words out. But now that I had, I realized they were true; but at the same time, I knew she hadn't meant to hurt me. But I still couldn't stop myself from feeling the way I did.

Jay sat down next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me into his lap. I cried on his shoulder. It had been so many years since I'd cried in front of anyone. Jay said nothing; he just stroked my hair and my back on occasion.

Finally I calmed down enough to notice him shivering, "you're freezing." I croaked out.

"It's nothing."

"Liar. Take your jacket."

"You need it more, trust me." I ignored him and pulled it off, putting it around his shoulders instead. He sighed and enclosed the jacket around the two of us. So we sat there, me on his lap, sharing his coat while we stared out into the pouring rain.

The rain finally lessened to a sprinkle so we stood up and ran into the street trying to get back to ship before another round made it our way. We had no such luck. A few blocks later it, poured once again.

I laughed without humor, "we can't win!" I threw my hands into the air, "we cannot win, can we?"

"Kisa."

"I mean we are so soaked we'll probably catch a cold!"

"Kisa."

"And furthermore-"

"Kisa!"

"What?!" I yelled, finally turned around. Jay stood only a few inches away; he was much closer than I'd thought he had been. "What now? Please don't start yelling at me aga-"

He leaned forward and kissed me. On the lips!

I stood still, not knowing what to do. I didn't kiss him back, but I didn't pull away either.

He stood up straight. Through the rain I could see him blushing. His eyes were vulnerable as they searched through mine, looking for something.

I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing would come out. I let out a small noise, like a gasp, only I was exhaling. There were so many unspoken emotions in that one breath. I couldn't deal with it.

I turned and ran away.

"Kisa!" I heard Jay call after me. But I didn't stop or turn around. I couldn't hear his footsteps chasing after me, so I assumed he was still standing where I had left him.

_What the bloody _hell_ just happened?!_ I was so confused.

And yet, I could feel the blush coming on; along with a tingly, fussy, faint spark deep inside me.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Oooohhhhhhhh what's going to happen between Kisa and Jay now?! (I wanted to just type a smiley face and move on the rest of the note buuut I decided to leave you with an actually sentence.)**

**There was a lot of back-and-forth collaboration between PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and I for this chapter. (It probably was the chapter with the most collaboration but I can't remember for sure.) In the end I'm very pleased with how it turned out. :) She suggested a lot and I worked whatever she added/wrote out into the chapter. I think my favorite suggestion she made for this chapter was Kisa and Jay fighting and Jay kissing Kisa before she ran away. :)**

**Kisa had a lot of stuff locked up inside ... At least she let it out ... And she cried! (If you haven't figured it out Kisa hates to cry ... especially in front of other people (just like me)...). **

**Some of the things Kisa, worries/thinks about are things I worry/think about (i.e. thinking screwy is better than fat (something that would cross my mind if someone said that too me) - I'm not fat but sometimes I just feel fat (like after I pig out ...) - I don't like that feeling ... I'm apparently the "healthy one" in my family ... I don't feel like I am but according to my mom I am. Anyway enough about me, back to Kisa!) Other things Kisa worries/thinks about I don't (i.e. having my best friend just disappear - thankfully that's never happened to me *knock on wood*).**

**I love that he kissed her in the rain. I would love for my boyfriend (you know, once I get one ...) to kiss me in the rain :3 Hopefully I wouldn't run away like Kisa though ... (I love how I say 'enough about me' yet I continue to write about me ... Okay I'm done gabbing about myself now!) **

**Well I hope you liked it! Stay tuned, there's still a handful of chapters to go!**

**I love reviews so please leave one! (Come on guys! Pretty, pretty please? You can leave an anonymous review on here if you want!) You can critique my work as well but please no flames.**

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me.**

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	17. Chapter 16

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Sixteen

The next day I stayed away from Jay; spending most of my day in my 'room'. I couldn't face him. Not after … the night before. I blushed again as I thought about the kiss; I lay down on my mattress and stared at the ceiling. It was going to be a long few days.

I was right; the next few days were long.

Every time I heard Jay coming, my heart would quicken and my eyes would widen; I'd run and hide. Every time I saw him, my breath would hitch and my face would grow hot; I'd duck behind the nearest barrel, box, or door before he could see me.

_Gosh Kisa! This is no way to live!_ I'd think to myself every time I'd hide. This didn't stop me from hiding, but I couldn't keep the thought from coming. It was just there.

At meals times, I'd grab my food and slip out the door; I'd eat my meal on my mattress by myself. _This is just pathetic Kisa! Stop it! Stoooop it! Just eat with everyone_! Again, I did nothing about the thought; it was always there at meal times.

To my relief, Jay didn't seem to want to hunt me down at first. But after a day of me ignoring him, he began keeping an eye out for me.

He spotted me once as I walked out of the crews' sleeping quarters and started walking towards me. I spun on my heels and ran inside; he ran after me. I couldn't hide in my room; it was two walls and a sheet, so I ducked into a bathroom. It was the nearest hiding place with a lock.

"Kisa!" he knocked on the door, "Kisa come on out please. I just want to talk to you!" I sat down in the shower and tucked my knees to my chest. "Look Keys, I'm sorry okay? But I'm not sorry that I kissed you! I'm just sorry you didn't like it …" I winced, "But I don't really know what I did so could you at least talk to me like this, through the door?" I stayed quiet and put my head on my knees, curling up in a ball. "Ugh!" he finally voiced his frustration a few minutes later, "Fine! Be that way for all I care!" I heard him turn and storm up the stairs.

I waited for a few more minutes before I finally crawled out of the shower and slipped out of the bathroom. I quietly made my way back to my make-shift room. It kind of surprised me that Jay had gone outside instead of waiting for me there. He either thought I'd go back outside or he figured that I wasn't going to talk to him for the time being. Well, if it was the second reason, he was correct.

Unfortunately, Raphaelle took notice of my behavior rather quickly. After a day and a half of watching me hide from Jay, she pulled me aside. This time we ended up talking in my 'room' as opposed to her and Jim's.

"What's up with you lately Kisa?" she asked once we were alone.

"Nothing's wrong." She gave me an Ah-Hu-Riiiiight look. I looked down at my blanket, "it's just … Well … it's Jay!" I finally blurted.

"Jay?" she asked, wrinkling her brows in confusion.

"He's … he's just … he's so Jay!" I sighed in frustration. I couldn't think of a better way to describe him or the situation without going into detail. I was trying to avoid going into the details about the kiss.

"Because that explains everything …" she mumbled sarcastically under her breath. "Why don't you just tell me what happened Kisa?"

I studied her as I debated whether or not to tell her. Finally I broke down and explained to her what happened. From the Solar Surfer breaking to why I was hiding from Jay and everything in between that I could remember. With the exception of why I started crying; all I told her was that we'd had an argument.

Raphaelle only interrupted me once when I told her about the Surfer falling and us landing in the ocean. Her outburst was humorous, she spoke so fast that her words ran together. "Ohmygoshareyouguysokay?!" Then she took a deep breath, calmed down and repeated herself, this time with spaces, "ohmygosh! Are you guys okay?!"

I nodded, "We were wet and cold and too be honest, I'm surprised we aren't sick!" and as if on cue I sneezed. She laughed and I growled, I hate when I jinx myself…

After I finished the explanation we both sat in silence for a moment. Finally Raphaelle spoke, "Oh Kisa." She pulled me into a hug, and whispered into my ear, "It's tough being in love sometimes. But trust me, it's worth it."

I paused before deciding that I had to tell her what the 'argument' was about. I sat up and looked at her, "There's one more thing … that argument Jay and I had? Yeah … it was about you …"

"About me?" she sat up straighter and looked at me, "What do you mean, about me?"

I inhaled deeply, "You disappeared Raphaelle. You were just … gone. I mean, I called the orphanage on your birthday and they said that they went up to get you when you didn't come down for breakfast. And you weren't there … they looked everywhere but they couldn't find you … I was worried sick for the longest time …"

"Oh Kisa …" she whispered, "I didn't plan-"

"I know that now." I cut her off, "But I didn't know it at the time." We sat in silence for a moment, "I felt abandoned Raphaelle … Jay made a good a point … you were the first person who I can remember who ever wanted to be with me, to be my friend …"

Raphaelle hugged me, "I'm sorry Kisa. I'm so sorry." I hugged her back, "You were the first person to be my friend as well. You know that. You knew that before I came here."

"Yeah, I know. That doesn't mean it didn't hurt when you vanished into thin air…"

"I know … I'm sorry …"

We hugged each other before finally pulling apart.

"So," she started, "about Jay-"

I groaned and rested my forehead in my hand, "what about him? …"

"Well he likes you and you like him-"

"Says who!" my head shot up.

"You. Right now. By the way you just acted. It's the classic he likes her, she likes him, and everyone knows it except the two people who like each other!"

I blushed and turned to wall, "you were saying?" I mumbled, mad at myself for letting it show that I may have started liking Jay.

"I think you should talk to him."

"No!" I almost shouted. Raphaelle raised an eyebrow at me, I sighed, "I can't … I just can't face him right now …" I told her about the locking-myself-in-the-bathroom incident.

She nodded that she understood; I was not talking to Jay any time soon. "Well, you don't have to talk to him today, but you do have to talk to him at some point. I'd suggest sooner rather than later. We dock in about three days' time you know."

"Yeah," I mumbled, not meeting her eyes, "I know…"

* * *

**Author's Note: **

**Short chapter I know, so with it goes a short Author's Note. To start things off I hope y'all liked chapter 16! **

**So the whole situation between Kisa and Jay is made up. Nothing like that had ever happened to me. Was it believable enough? ... I guess I don't really know ...**

**Well that's it for this chapter y'all! **

**I love reviews so please leave one! You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me. **

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by ****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	18. Chapter 17

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Seventeen

Jay stood and leaned against the wall next to the entrance of the crews' sleeping quarters. He had seen Kisa and Raphaelle descending the steps a few minutes earlier. This was the perfect time and place to finally catch Kisa. She'd been avoiding him since he'd kissed her.

He was running through any and everything he could say to her when he heard movement on the steps. As the door opened he stood up and spun to face the girl. But she had long strawberry blonde hair, not blonde. "Oh," he must have sounded disappointed as he said, "hey Raphaelle."

"Hi Jay. Waiting for someone?" she asked.

"Oh …" he took a second to debate on whether he should tell her who he was waiting for, "No." He chose to lie, "You just … startled me is all." He mumbled. Then he turned and walked away. _I have chores to do anyway, _he thought as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

* * *

He didn't get it. Why was Kisa always running away from him now? _Girls are confusing_ … He did not understand them at all.

It seemed like every time he'd get near Kisa she'd run away and hide. Sometimes he'd follow her and sometimes he'd pretend not to notice her. That was hard though; it's hard to miss a tall-ish girl with puffy short blond hair (which he thought looked cute on her) in a blue top.

Was it because he had kissed her? Something told him it was … but he still couldn't figure out _why_. If she didn't like it or didn't feel the same way about him then why didn't she just say so?

Girls were just too confusing…

* * *

Jay stood alone swabbing the deck that night after dinner. Where was the rest of the crew? He had no idea …

He had never realized how big the main deck was. Soon Jay was leaning on his mop and chuckling to himself.

"What's so funny?" Jay looked up. Jim was walking toward him, Morph hovering around his shoulders.

"Oh nothing … I just realized that I didn't help Kisa very often when this all started … and now it's the exact opposite. Kisa's blowing off work and I'm left to clean up everything on my own." At the sound of her name, Morph morphed into Kisa; she was mopping.

"Karma." Jim supplied.

Jay laughed darkly, "You don't know the half of it, brother…" he mumbled, looking out at the sparkling stars surrounding them, "Bad karma…"

After a long moment of silence Jim spoke, "You like Kisa." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

The Cabin Boy thought about saying 'maybe' but he knew that Jim would know he was lying. So he decided to go with the truth, "Yeah."

Jim nodded, "Thought so."

"Why is she so … closed off? It's like she won't let anyone in…"

"I don't know. But Raphaelle said that she'd rather lock her feelings up then deal with them. She was an orphan; she doesn't want to get hurt by losing more loved ones. But… Raphaelle said she opened up to her again, for the first time since they were little."

Jay nodded and thought. Maybe if he could get Kisa alone, she'd open up to him as well … it was a long shot but maybe it would work … if he could find a way to get her alone. And that was a big _if_.

"But if she doesn't want to get hurt again then why did she get to know us?"

"I don't know," Jim shrugged. "Maybe she couldn't help it."

"And why didn't she just say something after I kissed her instead of running away and avoiding me?"

"You kissed her?" Jim asked.

"Oh, yeah, kinda," Jay replied, rubbing the back of his neck, trying to hid his embarrassment.

Jim smirked at him. "Way to go, little man."

"Never mind that! Why has she been avoiding me since that happened?" Jay asked, steering the conversation back on track.

"Again, I don't know … maybe she's just confused."

Jim was right, Jay decided. She must have been confused. He sighed and looked down at the floor.

Jim looked at his young friend sympathetically.

"Listen," Jim said, putting his hand on Jay's shoulder. Jay looked up at him expectantly.

"I think that you should talk to her about everything. Just get it all out there, and encourage her to do the same. Cause when we get to that planet, and she goes through that portal, it might be a one-way ticket. I know you'll regret not talking to her before she leaves, and I'm sure she'll have a lot of things she'll wished she had said too. I don't want either of you to have regrets," Jim said, offering Jay his advice.

Jay looked at his friend and nodded. Jim smiled and patted his back before walking away.

Jay decided that it was time to confront Kisa; that it was a good plan. Well, more like his only plan. They only had two days until they arrived at the planet, so the sooner the better.

He just hoped she wouldn't run away again.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**It's a short chapter so it's a short author's note again as well.**

**Third point of view with Jay again! I hope you all like him and when I write in his POV. :)**

**My favorite line in this chapter was an add-in from PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid when she edited it. ("Jim smirked at him. 'Way to go, little man.'") It made me laugh. :)**

**Um ... I can't think of anything else to say for this chapter so I'll leave you with the usual. **

**I love reviews so please leave one! (I honestly do love them guys! I'm not just saying that! Please leave something!) You can critique my work as well but please no flames.**

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me.**

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	19. Chapter 18

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Eighteen

I sat on the railing of the ship, my legs dangling over the side, my left hand holding tight to the shrouds, staring out at the stars. It was nearing midnight on my last night before we arrived at the Stonehenge planet. The others had thrown me a going away party early that night. We'd had singing, a great dinner and Raphaelle had made her famous brownies. (The kind with ice cream, fudge, caramel and chocolate syrup! They were amazing!)

Obviously, Jay had been there, but he kept his distance. As Raphaelle and I sang a solo, he recorded it with my camera. He served us the brownies; in fact, that was the only exchange of words we had all night. I said "thank you," for the brownies and he'd answered with a "you're welcome."

The funniest part of the night was when Jim received his brownie. Right before he could dig his fork into the yummy goodness, the ice cream floated up in the air and plopped back down onto the brownie, devouring it, before melting into a pink blob on the plate and letting out a satisfied burp. For a moment, no one moved. Jim sat there, staring at his favorite dessert in shock.

Then Raphaelle burst out laughing; she was laughing so hard, she was doubled over on her chair, her face was red. The rest of us followed suit. Jim glared at us but soon was smiling and laughing as well. Eventually Raphaelle stood up and, still laughing, went into the kitchen and returned with a new plate of brownie for her husband.

I had a blast and before I knew it the party was over. We'd all retired to bed, but after a half hour of tossing and turning I'd finally thrown my covers aside and made my way up to the deck. The stars were absolutely stunning. I knew I would most likely never see the stars this close ever again.

"They're amazing, aren't they?"

I jumped; a small 'eep!' escaped my lips.

"Sorry." Jay walked up and leaned against the railing. I thought about running, but I remembered what Raphaelle had said, so I stayed put. This was my last chance to get any and everything off of my chest.

But before I could say anything, Jay spoke, "I'm sorry…"

I tilted my head at him, "For what?" Mentally, I was running through a list of what he could be apologizing for. Let's just say, the list wasn't exactly short …

"Everything I guess…" He didn't look at me, which was all the better; I'm not a fan of awkward eye contact. "But mostly for the shivering thing …" I gave him a confused look and this time he turned to meet my eyes, "You were freezing and I failed to notice. I should have but ... I guess I was so busy running through how I was going to chew the guy out that I wasn't paying any attention to what was going on around me."

"Well, why were so focused on chewing him out?" I asked in as harmless a tone as I could muster.

"Because he rented us a busted board!" He replied as if it were obvious, which it kind of was, "We could have been killed and you just about had a full on panic attack or something!"

"Rewind. You did notice that I was about to freak out, that's more important than noticing that I was shivering a little."

He thought about that for a moment before nodding, "I guess you're right … but you were shivering more than a little …"

I snorted, "A.) Of course I'm right! We are talking about me after all," I couldn't have sounded more egocentric if I tried. He gave me a dirty look and I laughed, "I'm kidding jeez! And B.)," I pointed to myself, "Swimmer! The pool water we swim in isn't exactly warm! It's one of those things where you slide in slowly and tell the people in front of you to go because moving is the only way to get warm! Or you can just dive in … if you like taking the _easy way_." I rolled my eyes and smiled at him. Eventually he smiled and we both laughed.

When our laughter died down he looked back out at space and said, "You know Jim had to blackmail me into singing with you…"

"I nearly choked when Raphaelle suggested it! Well, I was blushing so much that I tried to hide it by stuffing my face, which caused me to nearly choke."

"Why were you blushing?"

"'Cause you had just kissed me on the cheek."

"Yeah and then you kissed me." We sat in silence, not an awkward silence like last time, just a nice, relaxed one.

Finally Jay climbed up on the railing and sat down next me, our just barely touching, "Are you sure you have to go home tomorrow?" he whispered, looking down at our feet.

I looked at him, "you know the answer and you know my reason behind leaving." I whispered back.

"I like you. I mean I _really_ like you." He told me point blank; he didn't bother whispering it.

I blushed and looked way, "Yeah … I got that when you kissed me."

"Yeah …" I glanced back and saw him looking away, rubbing the back of his neck again.

Then I looked at my left hand; it was still gripping the shrouds. I mumbled to it, "And maybe I'm starting to really like you too…"

"What?"

I turned and looked at him, he had twisted his body and pulled his leg up so he was sitting sideways on the railing; his upper half of his body was facing me. I shifted slowly and carefully so I had a leg on each side of the railing; my left hand was behind me, holding onto the bottom of the shrouds. I took a deep breath, "I-I said 'and maybe I'm starting to really like you too'." I paused, "And I'm not sorry that you kissed me either. I might have … I might have liked it too."

For a second we both just sat there; our eyes locked on each other's. His eyes were full of … hope? I honestly didn't know what emotion showing in mine.

Slowly he leaned forward, but he stopped with our lips an inch apart, "May I?" he whispered; I nodded. He closed the distance between us. And this time I kissed him back.

It was a short innocent kiss at first, we pulled away to breathe, but then we were kissing again. This time there was more heart behind it.

We pulled apart again and I whispered, "Come with me." I don't know why I said it or what made me say it, but I said it.

"What?" he pulled back farther and looked at me. He was confused; he was trying to figure out if he'd heard me correctly.

"Come with me to Earth. To my world."

He looked at me for a moment before saying, "it could be a one-way ticket Keys."

"I know … it's your choice but …" I paused, I could turn this into a fight real fast, I had to be careful. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't have much here besides your friends. I mean you don't have a good family … I mean-"

"Kisa!" I stopped, he was smiling, so hopefully that meant he wasn't mad, "It's okay, I understand what you're trying to say. And … I agree. I don't have much here … but … I just … I don't know …"

I nodded, "It was a spur of the moment question, so you'll need some time to think and all … and … well … think about it? Please?"

He chuckled and placed a kiss on my cheek, "Don't worry, I will."

* * *

Jay lay in his hammock that night, his hands folded on his chest, staring at the ceiling. What was he going to do?! He liked Kisa, he _really_ liked Kisa, and he'd love to go with her and see her world. But he did have friends in his world; friends who were more like family to him then his own blood relatives. His friends had done and would do anything for him. He'd barely started to pay them back. But Kisa … He did want to follow her.

But what if the portal really was a one-way ticket?!

He really didn't know what he was going to do … He was torn between two worlds.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I love that Morph ate Jim favorite dessert. :3 Aren't I nice? xD (Well it's his favorite dessert in ****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid** Treasure Planet fanfiction world.)

**I hope you like the heart-to-heart tender moment between Jay and Kisa. Again it's something that hasn't happened to me so I made it up ... Was it believable? **

**Thanks for reading y'all! See ya next chapter! (Only a few more chapters to go!)**

**I love reviews so please leave one! You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me. **

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by ****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	20. Chapter 19

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Nineteen

_Today's the day,_ I thought as I crawled out from under my blanket and off of my mattress later that morning. _Today I'm going home!_

As excited as I was, I was still sad and almost dreading the day ahead of me. Like Jay had said the night before, the portal could be a one-way ticket. I may never see Jay, Raphaelle, or the others ever again. The thought was scary …

Slowly, I pulled on my blue blouse and my black pants, along with my boots. I made sure my PJs, my halter top dress, the dress I'd worn at the Inn (which Sara insisted I keep), and all of my other random items that I'd acquired or had brought with me were in the duffle bag Sara also insisted I have. I made sure to keep my camera out so it would be easier to take pictures of everyone before I had to leave.

All my jewelry was in the bag, except for my oval angel pendant, which was around my neck. I ran my finger over it, just barely feeling the engraving of the angel on it. I released it and let it fall against my blouse.

Sighing, I turned and hoisted my bag over my shoulder.

My shoes hit gravel and that's when it hit me. My eyes filled with tears. I quickly blinked them away.

We didn't have a picnic planned for this trip. Nope, this time we ate brownies. "Raphaelle, I want your recipe!" I said dreamily as I flopped over on our blanket after devouring three of her delicious creations.

"I thought you'd say that …" she said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded index card. I took it from her and unfolded it. It was her brownie recipe!

I threw my arms around her, "I love you Raphaelle!"

She laughed and hugged me back, "Love you too, Kisa!"

I placed the card into my bag and finished my fourth brownie. After snapping a few pictures with my camera, it was time to head to the ruins.

The piles were just as we'd left them. It took Austin a good twenty minutes to set up the machine. It was a tiny thing really, maybe the height of a cereal box and as heavy as a gallon milk jug. As he set it up, I walked around and took more picture of everyone.

Finally, Austin stood up and hollered over to me, "Hey Kisa! Are you ready?" I turned and shut my camera off before setting it on the ground next to my bag.

Austin handed me a small green device and an alcohol swab, "This will-"

"It'll prick my finger so you can get a drop of my blood." I explained as I swabbed my index finger with the alcohol swab. Everyone stared at me, "What? I took a medical class last year. We had to prick fingers all the time."

After pricking my finger and placing it on the machine's sensor, I stood back, bandaged my finger, and waited. Austin had had already explained to me how the portal would work. One portal would open here and another would open in my world; a tunnel of sorts would connect the two. He wasn't sure if the original portal functioned in the same way, but this was the only way he and Delbert could get it to work. I was told to get through the tunnel as quickly as I could because no one knew how long it would stay open. If I were to get trapped in the tunnel I would be stuck in No Man's Land, or the space between the two worlds, forever. I shuddered at that thought.

The machine started to beep and a moment later the swirling portal opened. I gasped; there was Earth! There was my house! There was home!

I hoisted my bag over my shoulder and turned to everyone, "Thank you guys, for everything. I mean it." I gave them all a weak, sad smile. Goodbyes are always bittersweet.

Raphaelle gave me one last hug before handing me an envelope, "These are for when you get back home." She whispered and hugged me again. Finally, we let go and she went to stand by Jim. He put an arm around his wife's shoulders and held her close. I let my eyes wander to everyone else: Angela stood in front of Gabriel, his arms around her waist; Austin stood my Jennifer, holding her hand in friendly support, and Iris stood huddling with Adelaide and Nerita. Morph floated above all of them, looking as sad as could be.

Finally, my eyes came to rest on Jay; I could tell by looking at him that he wasn't going to be moving from his spot anytime soon. _So I guess he made his decision,_ I thought, feeling hurt. _You only have yourself to blame! You should have told him sooner…_

"Bye." I gave a small wave as I turned to face the portal. Tears finally began to run down my face. I wasn't sure if I was crying because I was leaving, or because I was leaving without Jay.

I took a deep breath; in the back of my mind I swore I heard a voice whisper, "go with her." But I wasn't sure, so I shook my head slightly and stepped into the portal.

Or I tried to. I got one leg into the portal anyway. A hand was gripping my upper arm, stopping me from going any farther.

"Kisa, wait."

I turned to find Jay holding my arm and looking into my eyes, "Do you think I could- I mean, can I- I mean-"

I chuckled and nodded, "yeah Jay. You can come with me." He beamed at my response before bending down and giving me a quick kiss on the lips right in front of everyone. And you know what? Despite what my blush said, I didn't care. I was actually glad he did it; it proved that we finally knew that we liked each other.

"You two lovebirds better go before the portal closes," Austin advised. Blushing, we laughed, said a final goodbye, and stepped into the portal.

The inside of the portal was, in a word, amazing. It was like a long blue tunnel made up of neon lights.

"This would be so cool if it wasn't so … so …" I blanked.

"Freaky 'cause we don't know what's going to happen?" Jay finished.

"Yeah, that." I mumbled.

Suddenly the tunnel shifted, "I vote we get out of here." His voice had an edge of panic to it.

I wanted to say, 'I second that vote!' but I turned and looked back. I could see Raphaelle staring at us through the portal and I could hear Austin's voice shout that the portal was breaking.

Raphaelle ran up to portal and placed a hand on it, but it wouldn't pass through. Our trip really was a one-way-ticket. I could see the tears forming in her eyes as I felt them form in my own.

"What's happening?" I questioned in a calm of a voice that betrayed my emotions.

"The portal's collapsing; you'd better get out of there quickly." She answered; her voice sounded so far away.

I nodded, "Goodbye Raphaelle, I'll miss you." I could feel my throat tightening as I tried desperately not to cry.

"Goodbye Kisa." Her voice cracked as she took a step back and waved.

With one last look I grabbed Jay's hand and we ran to end of the portal. We leaped through it and began freefalling as the portal closed behind us. A few more seconds and we would have been lost in No Man's Land forever.

The portal had opened a good ten feet above the ground. The free-fall made my stomach drop as the grass came up too quickly.

When we hit, we hit hard. I landed on my back with a force so hard it knocked the wind out of me. That same force threw my head back, slamming it down in the grass. My scull erupted in pain and my vision went fuzzy.

I thought I could hear a chorus of voices scream, "Kisa!" but before I could make sense of it, my world faded to black.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
**

**Kisa really has to stop getting knocked out ... (Even _I'm_ not the clumsy Kisa!)**

**But OMG she's home! And Jay went with her! :D **

**I really like the sound of Raphaelle's brownies ... can you tell? xD **

**I don't know where I got the idea for the portal being a tunnel but that's what kept popping into my mind when I pictured that scene. Then I figured the portal opening ten feet above the ground and them hitting it hard explains why both her and Raphaelle woke up with splitting headaches (and in pain in general) after they ended up in the Treasure Planet world. Do you like the idea? **

**Alright I'll see you later with the next chapter! **

**I love reviews so please leave one! You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me. **

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

******Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	21. Chapter 20

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Twenty

"Ugh." I moaned as I opened my eyes. Slowly, they focused in on the room around me. It took a few seconds, but then I realized where I was. I was at home! In my bedroom! I shot up in my bed, rubbed my eyes for a few seconds before looking around again. I was in my bed, in my room, in my house, on Earth! I was even in my favorite pajamas!

Then it hit me; it was all a dream. Mrs. Hawkins, the BenBow Inn, B.E.N., Morph, Jim, Raphaelle…Jay…everything. My chest felt tight and I brought my hand to it, as if the pressure of my hand could release the pressure inside. It must have been a dream. How else could I be at home and in my pajamas and-

I felt something cool touching my skin underneath my shirt where my hand was pressing it to my chest. Carefully I slid my necklace off over my head. _What the hell?_ I never slept with jewelry on, especially necklaces! (I didn't want to choke in my sleep …)

I stared at the pendent. My jaw dropped open.

"Oh … my … god …" It was _the_ necklace! The one Jay had given me! That meant it hadn't been a dream! It was real!

I put the chain back around my neck before jumping out of bed, grabbing my short pink robe from the end of my bed, pulling it on and racing from my room. Well, I tried to race from my room, but I only made it to the threshold before the splitting headache hit me. I gripped the doorframe with one hand and held my forehead with the other.

I could feel my blood pressure drop as I struggled to not throw up. Finally, the nausea passed, but my head still ached. _That's right … I was knocked out …_ I thought through the pain.

I made my way very slowly down the hallway until I came to the family room.

"Kisa!" I winced. Having your brother scream in your ear when your head is pounding is not fun. "Oh," he whispered this time, "sorry …"

I gave him a weak smile, "hey Rebel, 'sup?"

He laughed and pulled me into a bear hug that was so tight, my feet left the floor.

"Is Kisa up?!" I looked over to see the light brown hair and colorful outfit that could only belong to Marda. She stood in the doorway looking in our direction.

"Morning Mars." I said, realizing just how hoarse my voice sounded.

"Ohmygod! Kisa!" She ran over and hugged me. It took me a moment to remember that my little sister couldn't see me.

"Kisa!" Both my parents came in and my whole family embraced in a group hug. That was about the time I started crying. There were tears running down my family's faces as well. I started bawling my eyes out.

Finally, when we were all able to stop crying, we sat on our L shaped couch and my mother asked, "Kisa… What _happened_ to you?! We were worried sick!" To be honest, I was surprised they hadn't grounded me yet. I'd been gone for what? A month at least?

I opened my mouth to tell them and then I shut it again. There was no way they'd believe me if I told them where I'd really been and what I'd really been doing.

"I was ... I was with …" Was there any good way to finish that sentence without spilling that I went through a portal to another dimension and was with Raphaelle? My family loved Raphaelle, and if they had had the money they probably would have adopted her as well. But money doesn't grow on trees. And besides, she got her happily ever after with Jim! Wait, speaking of happily ever after…

"Where's Jay?" I asked looking around.

"Jay?" Marda asked.

"The boy who was with me." I said in a 'duh' tone of voice.

"You mean the one who _fell from the sky_ with you?!" Rebel asked.

"Um …" I paused, "yes?"

"Well, he _was_ here," my brother started, "until mom and dad started interrogating him. They kept accusing him of kidnapping you and threatened to call the cops on him." He was saying all of this in such a calm voice as if nothing about what he said was wrong.

"So where is he now?!" I asked, panic rising in my voice.

"Relax," Marda put her hand on my arm. "Rebel stood up for him. Kind of."

"Kind of?"

"Well, he told mom and dad to go take care of you and then he showed him a great place to hide while our parents calmed down. Outside. In the woods." It was clear from her tone of voice that she thought Rebel was being as stupid as I did. Why on God's green Earth would he tell Jay to hide in the woods?!

"You did _what_?!" my parents and I asked him at the same time, as we stared at him with looks of pure unbelief.

"He tried to kidnap K-"

"Mom! No he did not! He helped me get home!"

"From the sky." Rebel muttered. Mars helped me hit him.

"Ugh!" I stood up, "Okay here's the really short load down. Jay helped me out and while I hated – okay 'hated' is a strong word – while I disliked him a first, he is … now my boyfriend …" I muttered the last part, hoping no one would hear. But having a blind younger sister means she has great hearing.

"He's your boyfriend?!" she exclaimed and my blush proved her right. Marda took my silence as a yes and hopped up, "Well then, what are we waiting for?! I wanna formally meet the guy who's crazy enough to be your boyfriend!" With that, she ran to the back porch door and pulled it open, "Come _on_ you guys!" she almost whined, and she was out the door.

I looked at the remainder of my family for a second longer before running after her with my brother at my heels.

It took Rebel a good ten minutes to find the clearing where he'd told Jay to hide. Unfortunately, there was no Jay to be found. I whipped my head around looking and panicking before I heard a twig snap behind me. I spun. There was Jay standing before me.

"Jay!" I exclaimed, feeling relieved and overjoyed as I ran to him, embraced him, and kissed him.

As we pulled apart I could hear Marda mumble, "Ah man! They're kissing aren't they?! I wanna see!" and the five of us began laughing.

* * *

We brought Jay back to the house to formally meet my parents. They were still leery of him though. So we broke down and relived the whole event that had brought us together and gotten us home. Well, we played down the pirate parts, but we shared all the details about the other dimension and how I met the characters from my favorite childhood movie, and how I was reunited with Raphaelle.

The only thing that made it slightly believable and made my parents buy it was that Rebel had seen us fall from the portal. And he'd captured it on video. For once, I was glad that he carried his flip camera around everywhere.

Jay was set up in the guest room in our basement and my parents lectured us on our new house rules, much to our embarrassment. But dinner made up for that; we had Chinese and Sushi from the new buffet in town.

I was thrilled to be home with my family and to have Jay there with us, but a part of me was heartbroken. I would never see Raphaelle or any of my new friends ever again.

That thought really dawned on me as I was getting ready for bed about a week after getting home. Life had finally begun to slow down enough for me to let that sad fact sink in. I was sitting on my bed, halfway through untying my shoes. I was just sitting there, one foot on the bed and one off, zoning out, when a light caught my eye. I didn't move my position as I turned and looked to the corner of my room.

A small blue portal appeared an inch from my smooth wood floor and out of the portal appeared what looked like a black box with a piece of paper tied to it with ribbon.

I slowly got up, walked to the box, picked it up, and examined it. It was fairly heavy for its size. I pulled the piece of paper off, unfolded it and read it before dropping it the floor and pulling open the box. I gasped, set the box down gently, and ran from the room excited.

"Jay!" I yelled, "Ohmygosh, Jay! You have got to come see this!" I yelled on my way down the stairs. But to tell the truth, everyone in the family had to see it, it was that awesome!

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**You finally got meet Kisa's family! Poor Jay being run off ... Kisa's parents just wanted to protect their daughter.**

**PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid suggested parts of this but to be honest I can't remember what all she suggested ... (The part where her parents run Jay off was her idea but I don't know what else she suggested ...)**

**I'm thinking this chapter would have taken place late that same night (like sunset-ish). I didn't really think about what time it would be when she woke up but that's my best guess if you were curious. **

**So what do you all think? We're almost to the end y'all! Two more chapters plus an alternate ending! **

**I love reviews so please leave one! You can critique my work as well but please no flames.**

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me.**

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	22. Chapter 21

There's no Place like Home

Chapter Twenty-One

It had been a long week for Raphaelle Hawkins. The whole journey home, everyone had seem secretive, especially Austin. Even Jim and Morph seemed like they had something to hide. Every time she tried to figure out what was going on, they would brush her questions off with a simple, "Don't worry about it," or the aggravating "Nothing." This really made the strawberry blonde want to know what was going on!

Of course, her curiosity was one of the only things that kept her from wondering and worrying about Kisa. She'd seen her and Jay jump through the portal, so she knew they were safe, but she didn't know what had happened after. She hoped they were okay.

Up in the room she shared with Jim, she threw her bag onto the bed before plopping down next to it and hitting one of her hands on the bag. Of course it had to find something hard to smack against.

"Ow!" she mumbled as she sat up rubbing her hand. It hadn't hurt that bad, but she babied her hand anyway. She dug into the bag and pulled out a silver rectangle. _Kisa's camera! But how did it get in here?!_ She thought. Her blonde friend had not grabbed a Morph replica by mistake; the little pink blob had been moping around the ship all week, looking the way Raphaelle felt. Kisa must have just forgotten her camera.

It wouldn't turn on. The battery had finally died.

She laid her hands and the camera in her lap and leaned against the headboard, thinking. _Maybe Jim or Delbert or Austin could figure out how to charge it_ … Jumping up, the young Mrs. Hawkins went on a mission to find someone who could charge the digital camera.

Downstairs, she found the three men she was looking for sitting at one of the tables, their heads close together, looking at something.

"Hey guys." She called as she walked up to them; all three jumped, stood up straight, and spun to face her. Holding out the camera she asked, "Can one of you figure out a way to charge this? Kisa left it …" she turned to her husband, "oh, and how did it get into my bag?" she raised an eyebrow.

He smiled at her sheepishly, "Iris picked it up after the portal broke and I put it in your bag … But yeah, I'm sure we can figure out how to charge it." He took the camera and turned it over examining it. As Raphaelle was showing him where the charger would go (if they had one), Austin and Delbert went back to tinkering with the contraption on the table.

Suddenly Austin stood up, "I think it'll work!" he exclaimed.

"What'll work?"

"This!" he held up a miniature version of the portal machine.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"A miniature portal and its twin," he held up a second machine, "so you can send inanimate objects back and forth between you and Kisa?!" the excitement built in his voice as he spoke. Then he cleared his voice and continued in a calm, collected manner, "why yes, yes it is."

Raphaelle squealed and hugged each of them in turn before kissing Jim on the lips.

The machines still needed a little bit of tinkering before they would be ready, so Raphaelle spent the rest of the afternoon helping Sara around the inn. By the end of the night, Jim had figured out how to charge the camera and Austin and Delbert had finished the machines.

Raphaelle wrote a note that explained how to use the portal machine. In the note, she enclosed the memory card from Kisa camera, asking her if she wanted the whole camera back. Then she sealed the letter in an envelope, placed the machine in a black box and tied the envelope on with a ribbon. _I hope this works!_ She prayed while she crossed her fingers as Austin sent the machine across to Kisa. _I _really_ hope this works!_

* * *

It wasn't until the next day that Kisa and Jay sent a letter back. It explained that they were doing fine and how the past week had gone. Jay was living in the guest room in Kisa's basement. Things were finally settling down. Raphaelle smiled to herself as she read.

At the bottom of the note was the memory card again alone with the following note:

_Keep it, I have another one. And Rebel bought me another camera too! This way we can take pictures and videos and send them back and forth! (Do you have a place to dump the pictures that you want to keep?)_

_Love Melody- I mean Kisa! Haha!_

Raphaelle laughed, leave it to Kisa to think up something so … Kisa!

At the bottom of the letter she thanked Raphaelle for the pictures. All throughout the trip, Raphaelle had drawn pictures of different adventures. That was what had been in the envelope Raphaelle had given Kisa just before she went through the portal. The drawings ranged from the two girls singing, everyone spinning in the rain, Kisa singing with Jay, and (Raphaelle's favorite) Kisa and Jay dancing in the rain. The strawberry blond was thrilled her best friend loved her gift.

Now the two could stay in touch even though they were worlds apart.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Raphaelle got a whole chapter this time and not just half of one! Now the ending of the last chapter should make more scene. **

**So Austin worked his magic again and Kisa and Raphaelle can communicate with each other! Even if they can't visit anymore. And they can send picture or video's back and forth too!**

**That's about all I have for this chapter ... I don't have much to say for these chapter ... Hu ... *Shrugs* Oh well. **

**Well the epilogue is next! **

**I love reviews so please leave one! You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me. **

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

******Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	23. Epilogue

There's no Place like Home

Epilogue

I dropped my backpack at my feet and stood in front of my dorm building, looking up at it. My stomach flipped. I couldn't believe I was at college. _College!_

"Wow…" I turned to Rebel who stood next to me flipping through my class schedule, "you're going to die with all of these anatomy and biology classes!"

"Shut up!" I snapped. I made sure to hit him with my backpack as I swung it onto my back. My whole family was there helping me move in. "Just 'cause you hated bio doesn't mean I do!"

Marda laughed, "Yeah bro! Not everyone finds enjoyment in making videos either." She smirked at him; he glared down at her, then remembered and groaned between clench teeth, "I'm glaring at you Mars…" Her smirk turned into a grin, "I figured."

Rebel, being a year older then I, should have been starting his second year in college, according to society norms, but there's a reason everyone calls him Rebel; he doesn't _do_ 'society norms'. He had recently landed a graveyard shift at a local twenty-four hour store near our house restocking shelves. This was accompanied by his other job, doing yard work for anyone willing to pay him. Once he had enough money saved up (at the rate he was going it would take a few more years) and he decided on a major, he planned on putting himself through college. That was a classic Rebel move, being independent.

Marda was going to be busy with her junior year of high school, her piano recitals, and helping Mom in her office as a secretary. She already knew that she wanted to be a music major when it was her turn to go to college. She was also thinking of becoming a Music Therapist, but she still had a few years to figure all of that out.

That summer, my father, who managed a small Rehabilitation Center in town, gave Jay a job. He started him off as a janitor and told him if he worked hard, he'd work his way up to the top. Jay was treated just like one of family; for once he had a home and people who cared about him.

Speaking of Jay …

"Come on Kitchen Boy!" I sighed as I turned and grabbed his wrist. He had been standing behind me looking pale and very nervous. Did I forget to mention that he'd taken a high-school equivalency test shortly after coming to Earth? And that said test was able to land him a spot at my college? Well, both things happened. The only reason he was able to get in to any college, let alone the same one as me, on such short notice was because of his scores on the test. He had passed with flying colors. Of course, the fact that there was an opening in the major he wanted didn't hurt either.

"I'm just … nervous …" he quickened his pace so he could whisper in my ear, "I'm still new to this whole college idea … What if I mess up and everyone knows I'm not from this dimension!?"

I couldn't help myself; I laughed. It was such a stupid thing to get work up about. "Jay," I whispered back once my laughs turned into chuckles, "Trust me, no one would even think to consider you're from a different dimension! You can reference Treasure Planet all you like and the only thing they'll think is how nerdy you are for liking an old Disney movie!"

"Still …"

I rolled my eyes and dragged him inside, "You'll be fine!" We both landed a room in one of the co-ed dorms; the odd floors were for girls and the even floors were for boys. My dorm room was on the third floor and his was on the fourth. Since my dorm was the closest we all started there.

My roommate had yet to arrive, which was good because that meant I could send Raphaelle a picture. I planned on telling my roommate the portal machine was a science project my boyfriend had built. If she asked what it did, I would just shrug and say, "Nothing, it doesn't work." It was believable enough. Jay could have built something like it, but he was going into business, not engineering. (He could have made it in engineering, but he didn't want to go through the extra schooling.) My plan was to keep the machine off until I was alone, then I could turn it on see what Raphaelle and Jim had sent to Earth.

Rebel had an old camera that spit out a picture right after it was taken; he had snapped a picture of Jay and me standing in front of our dorm building. I quickly scribbled a short note on the back of the picture while Jay set up the portal machine.

Once I sent the picture through the portal, I flipped the switch on the side to 'off' and began to help the others unpack.

I still had a lot of life ahead me, but with my family there for moral support and Jay by my side, I knew I would be just fine. All I needed to make it was their love.

I pulled a picture frame out of a box. In the frame was an old picture of Raphaelle and me, when I had been eleven and Raphaelle had been fourteen, standing in front of an amusement park sign; we each had an arm around the others shoulder. I smiled at the memory. Jay wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up so I could place the frame on a shelf that was just out of reach. When he set me back down he kept one arm around my waist and kissed my temple. _Yeah, we're all going to be just fine!_

Das Ende

(The End)

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I'm not quite done yet lady's and gent's! There's an alternate ending after this! **

**Anyway Jay and Kisa are off the college! Exciting! Poor Jay, worrying about standing out. I love Rebel's reaction to Kisa class load too. xD **

**Anyway I hope you liked the ending, I thought it was cute but satisfying. Leave a review and tell what you thought of the chapter/story in general! It's probably not as good as saga but I hope you like it nonetheless! I had a lot of fun writing this so I hope you all like reading it! :) **

**One more "chapter" to go!**

**I love reviews so please leave one! (I realize some people - like me - don't like to review until the end of a completed story but since this is the end PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!) You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me. **

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by ****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


	24. Alternate Ending

There's no Place like Home

Alternate Ending

_Dear Kisa,_

_Jim and Austin finally finished the hologram stand that we can load the pictures and videos from your flash drive onto it! It works just like mine and Sara's lockets. How are things on Earth today? I hope Rebel and Jay aren't messing things up too bad! Haha!_

I smiled as I looked up from Raphaelle's letter. Jay and Rebel were too busy having a Nerf gun fight to be messing things up. I grabbed my new (and nearly identical to the old) camera and began recording their fight. It was hysterical how they jumped and rolled and dodged the Nerf darts. I had to stop filming; I was laughing so hard there was no way anyone could see what was going on in the video. As my laughter calmed down I continued to read.

_Iris, Jennifer, Nerita, Adelaide, Gabriel, Angela, and Austin are going home tomorrow, so tonight we're throwing a mini party. We're going to have karaoke too! Why don't you send over a video of you singing so we can play it tonight?_

"Having two dimensions running on roughly the same time zone is convenient!" I mutter aloud as I read on.

_Maybe a song that's good to dance to? I don't know, pick one. We're planning on having karaoke around 7:00 or 7:30. See if you can get it to us by then! If you can't then just shoot me back a quick letter, please!_

_Well I have to go help bake dessert for tonight! I'll talk to you later!_

_Love Ariel- I mean Raphaelle!_

I set the letter down, began scrolling through Marda's iPod, she had more songs than I did, and stopped on the perfect one. I grin, grabbed the camera, and jumped up, "Come on Marda! We have a project to knock out in only a few hours!"

Marda was sprawled out on a blanket in front of the porch with her head resting on one arm. That hand held a book while the other hand ran a finger over the pages of a brail book. She lifted her head up, "What kind of project? …" she asked. From the tone of her voice it was clear she didn't want to know the answer.

I jumped over her and ran up the steps, "a singing one!" I heard her groan as she stood up and followed. Jay and Rebel were close behind.

My house had a sweet set up; a section of our basement was a mini recording studio.

"What song are you singing?" Jay asked as he stepped into our studio and shut the door behind him.

"This one! Catch!" I tossed him the iPod.

"Don't throw my iPod! My music's on there!" Marda scolded.

"Too late." I said, a smile placed permanently on my lips.

Jay caught the music player with ease, "'Kiss the Girl'? What kind of a song is that?"

"A Disney one!" I gave him a closed-eyes smile and stuck out my tongue a little. Even without being able to see him I knew he was rolling his eyes. At night for the past week, Marda and I had been showing him all the classic Disney movies. Well, Marda was simply there 'cause she liked to listen to the TV while she read. Sometimes, if it was one of our first times watching a film we'd turn the Audio Descriptions on for her. But VHS tapes don't have Audio Descriptions for one, and for two they would have distracted Jay from his first time seeing a Disney film.

"Sweet!" Marda plopped down on her piano stool and ran a figure across the keys. "I love that song! Let's get started!" she tucked her legs up, spun around on her butt and placed her feet down on the other side of the bench. "And, lucky for you, I've already have the piece memorized."

"I know." I looked at her, "I was there. Remember?"

"You know, you're right, now that you mention it, I do remember seeing you there."

"See, I told you- _Hey_!"

Marda laughed and waved a hand in front of her unseeing eyes. "Gotcha!"

I chuckled at my own mistake, "alright, alright! Let's get down to business-"

"To defeat the Huns!" Mars interrupted, singing in a shouting voice. _It's a good thing the music studio is sound-proof …_ I thought.

* * *

"Aaaand cut!" Rebel announced after I finished the song. He pulled the memory card out of the camera and handed it to me.

"Danke!" I snatched it from him and ran up to my room. I quickly scribbled a note on a piece of paper, folded the card inside said paper, and sent it to Raphaelle. Then I fell down onto my bed and stared at the ceiling. _I need a nap …_ I thought lazily as I sat up, grabbed my laptop and surfed the internet. I would rather read something than sleep while I was waiting for a response from Raphaelle.

A long hour or so later the portal swirled to life and spat out a folded piece of paper. I jumped, raced to grab it and read the note. Well, I tried to read the note but there was nothing on the paper to read so instead I inserted the memory card into my laptop and clicked on the video that popped up.

It was an almost three minute long video of everyone dancing to me singing, "_Kiss the Girl_". But it wasn't just Jim, Raphaelle, Iris, Jennifer, Nerita, Adelaide, Gabriel, Angela, and Austin; it was a lot of the guests from the Inn as well. Everyone who was married or dating was slow dancing to the song. Those who didn't have dates or who were little kids, either danced with each other or alone, but everyone was on their feet. _Probably because I told them all to dance before I started singing,_ I thought.

At the end of the song all of the couples leaned in and kissed their significant other on the lips.

_Aww, how cute!_

Then they all turned to the camera and waved. Even though I knew they couldn't see me, I waved back. A few people and aliens even blew me a kiss; I just continued to wave.

"You are aware that they can't see you right?"

I turned to see Jay leaning against the doorframe, "yeah. I'm also the girl who talks to TV shows and books." I told him. He just laughed as he crossed the room and sat down next to me.

"I take it they liked your song?" I nodded, "Shocker." He said sarcastically. I laughed and lightly punched his arm, "Ow!" he whined.

I rolled my eyes, "that didn't hurt!"

"Yes it did!" I could hear him trying not to laugh.

"Fine, I'll kiss it better then." I leaned in and kissed his arm. He put his hand under my chin, tilted it up and kissed my lips, "better?" I whispered.

"Yeah," he breathed back.

He let go of my chin and I smiled at him, "today's been a good day, hu?"

"Yeah," he smiled back, "it has." he gave me a quick kiss on the lips again. "Come on," he stood up, "we're going to have a water gun fight with Rebel."

"Sounds like fun!" I laughed as I jumped up next to him.

"Yeah, just don't tell Rebel!" a smirk worked its way across his face.

"Ambush!" I said in a whispered giggle. I tried to match Jay's smirk but it came out as more of a grin. I grabbed Jay's hand and we made a run for the back door.

_God, I love my life!_ I thought as we ran outside into the sunlight, hand-in-hand. _Life is ssooo good_! The sunlight caught our silhouettes as we passed the threshold of the back porch door.

We snuck up on Rebel who was lounging in his lawn chair, half asleep, and dumped a bucket of water on his head. He was on his feet in half a second, swearing at us. Soon the three of us, along with Marda, had water guns in our hands spraying each other. Rebel aided Mars as her eyes; Lolly, her new dog, jumped between us snapping at the streams of water.

We all laughed. _Yeah life really is good_. I looked around at my family, even my parents were standing on the porch watching us, laughing. I was surrounded by those who love me; I was home. _There really is no place like home, is there?_ I thought with a smile and mentally recited those famous lines, _there's no place like home!_

Das Ende

(The End)

* * *

**Author's Note: **

**_There's no Place like Home_ is finally finished! Wow! This is my first multi chapter story that I've actually finished! (I have so many stories that are just sitting on my computer unfinished ...) Thank you so much for reading guys! **

**(On the other hand this is weird ... Now what am I going to do? That's a rhetorical question, I'll have school to worry about...)**

**Special thanks once again to ****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid** for letting me write this! :D (And for editing it, collaborating on it with me etc!) Thank you so much Raphaelle!

**So originally this was going to be the epilogue but then I changed it so it was just explaining what happened to everyone. It was kind of boarding ... Then****PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid suggested what I actually used for the ****epilogue and I liked it much better then what I had. I still showed her this though and she suggested I put it up as an alternate ending. :) I hope you all liked it!**

**I liked that I ended the story with the title too. :)**

**Maybe someday I'll get some other story written and post it up here ... maybe ... who knows ... **

**Well thanks again for reading! I'll leave you with the usual closer:**

**I love reviews so please leave one! (It's completed now so, please!) You can ****critique my work as well but please no flames. **

**Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, Silver etc. belong to Disney**

**Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**

**Kisa, Rebel, Marda, Andy, and Captain Rosa belong to me. **

**Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me.**

**Written by me**

**Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid**


End file.
